Stay on Top of Breaking News with Police Scanner 5-0

Summary

Police Scanner 5-0 is an app that gets feeds of police scanners from all around the world.

• Police Scanner 5-0  |  
• Free or $1.99  |  
• Critical Hit Software

When I was a kid, my cousin had a Citizen’s Band (CB) Radio, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! He’d listen to truckers and police radios to see what was going on in town and did I mention how cool it was? Anyway, CB Radios went out of style a while ago but thanks to smartphones, their spirit lives on through the apps!

While there are many alternatives out there, today we’re going to look at Police Scanner 5-0 which gets feeds of police scanners from all around the world, to see how it measures up.

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Listening In

This type of app wouldn’t be very valuable if the selection of police scanners to listen to wasn’t very good. Luckily, Police Scanner 5-0 offers over 3,300 stations from all over the USA alone. There are also a few hundred from around the world — including Canada, Australia, Chile, and the UK.

To listen to a station, select your country, local region or state, and pick a station from the list. One thing I wish the app had is search as scrolling through the different lists is pretty cumbersome at times.

There are many stations to choose from.

While listening to a station, you can favorite it as well as “share” it, which amounts only to emailing a link to someone. This button is a little deceiving because the universal Share icon is used, but it doesn’t fire Android’s built-in Share intent, it just launches GMail. Further, if you hit the back button, you’re taken to the home screen, not back to the app. But to be fair, this may be due to a quirk in Android, and not the app itself.

Discovery

Police Scanner 5-0 offers a couple of cool ways to discover stations: Hot and Near Me. As the names suggest, Hot will give you a list of the stations with the most listeners whereas Near Me will grab stations from organizations closest to you. From what I can see, this feature is surprisingly accurate — nice work by the developers there!

The Home and Listen Screens

However, it would be cool to see this implemented when you first load the app. Right now, the default station is a Chicago-based one. I’d like to see the default station be the one closest to the user, with Chicago being used as a fallback if the app can’t get an accurate location.

Other Features

Police Scanner 5-0 has a couple of other interesting features besides those related to listening to emergency radio transmissions. The app has educational sections under CB Lingo. Some examples are ’10 Codes’ and ‘People and Equipment’ .

The app offers some commonly used CB terms!

Anyone in the USA at least knows 10-4 means ‘message received’. We’ve heard that one used countless times from friends and in pop culture; but did you know that there is a 10-5 code, a 10-9, and many others? This app has a list of all of them for your convenience, and you can reference them while you’re listening.

The same goes for other CB lingo. I always knew people on CB had their own codes and language but never really looked beyond that. This app has a list of terms that you might hear. For example, and as you can see in the screenshot, the term for ‘police officer’ is ‘Bear’ and the analogy sticks for other police-related things. As someone born and raised in New York, I find it a bit funny that New Jersey is referred to as ‘Armpit’ — sorry, Jersey friends.

I know both the codes and lingo work for the United States, but I’m not sure if they apply Internationally.

Ups and Downs

Aside from what I think is a reasonable user interface, especially because it fits the metaphor of a CB radio, the developers added a few niceties. For example, they are pulling feeds from a separate source so you don’t need to update the app every time there is a new feed. I know this seems trivial, but it’s a nice convenience, especially if they update often — and considering there are about 1,000 more stations than what’s noted on the app’s page, I’d say they do. You can also listen to stations in the background without having to keep the app open. You’d think this is a no-brainer, but unfortunately I’ve seen a lot of developers who forget to implement this.

Nonetheless, I do have one big complaint. On the free version, the audio stops every ~30 seconds to remind you that you are using the free version. You need to press a button in the app to resume listening. This makes Police Scanner 5-0 nearly unusable if you plan on just idly listening for a while. I understand the app needs to make money, but this can get pretty annoying after a while. If the developers wanted to recoup some money from the free version, I’d strongly recommend ads as they would be considerably less intrusive.

Conclusion

I have a lot of good things to say about Police Scanner 5-0, and then at least one pretty bad comment. This is still the best scanner app I’ve used. Others I’ve tried in the past didn’t maintain connections for long and the feeds came in fuzzy. By comparison, Police Scanner 5-0 offers a good interface with nice features.

While I didn’t use the paid version, my assumption is that you won’t get bothered to upgrade, and I based my rating on that fact and the break offs that ensue. However, if you’re looking for some uninterrupted entertainment or a constant heads-up on what’s going on near you, I believe the paid version is actually worth the $1.99.

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Awesome Temple Run-Like Games

A few weeks ago the highly anticipated sequel to Temple Run was announced. Within the first three days Temple Run 2 had already been downloaded 20 million times on iOS devices. And after what seemed like the longest and most annoying week ever — which all my friends found hilarious as they played on their iPhones — Android users finally had access to the game. Since then, playing Temple Run 2 has been a regular occurrence and I’m sure this can be said for many others.

However, while Temple Run may take the spotlight, there are several other games that follow the same concept. Many of these are just as fun and in my opinion maybe better. So whether you’re bored of Temple Run already or just looking for a new game for your Android device, read on to find out what we recommend!

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Agent Dash

The first app I’ll be looking at is Agent Dash, a fun game where you play as a secret agent. The first thing you’ll notice is that you don’t need to swipe left or right at any stage. The only controls are swipe up, down and tilting. Tilting controls 80% of the game and you use this to move from lanes and turn corners.

In the game’s store, you’ll find the four basic upgrades which have just been renamed from Temple Run. These include: Super Diamond (Big Coins), Jetpack (Boost), Magnet and High-Value Gems. Each has five stages that you can buy as you play more and collect more gems.

The most appealing part of Agent Dash has to be the graphics. These are far superior to those of Temple Run and will amaze you at every turn.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.3.3 and up
Market Link: Agent Dash
Developer: Full Fat

Pyramid Run

When I started playing Pyramid Run, I found it quite comical that they have copied Temple Run yet still created a unique game. Running through the temple, you will face the same obstacles and again you need to collect coins. However, where the game becomes different is that you can place bets.

If you go to the main menu and click on “Crazy” you can wager on the distance you will achieve in your next run. If you reach that distance then a multiplier will be added to your final score. This gives an element of risk to the game and makes it more exciting in my opinion.

While Pyramid Run does have an element of uniqueness, it does suffer in other parts. These weaknesses come in the form of advertisements and some lower-quality graphics. However, I would recommend you try this, if only for the adrenaline rush from wanting to fulfil your bets.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.1 and up
Market Link: Pyramid Run
Developer: MagicBone

Rail Rush

On Temple Run 2, there’s a new area we can explore, the mine track where you experience a new layout and need to react differently to obstacles. Rail Rush is a game from Miniclip which mimics this concept for the whole game — because of course mine karts are the best!

Rail Rush has very high quality graphics and performs well. Similarly to Temple Run, when you complete the given missions, you get greater rewards. I also like that the “Save Me” feature has been integrated so you can resurrect from the dead and continue your game in exchange for some of your gold.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.1 and up
Market Link: Rail Rush
Developer: Miniclip.com

Subway Surfers

Before Temple Run 2 launched, I looked for ages for a game that could fill that gap in my gaming life — luckily, Subway Surfers was suggested to me by a friend. This game works basically the same as Rail Rush in the sense that you don’t turn and you’re on the same path the whole way. Your objective is to jump over the trains and slide under obstacles while trying to get the furthest distance possible.

Every month on Subway Surfers the game changes too. This month the game is set in Rio and last month it was in New York. This brings a completely different user interface and provides new upgrades to buy in the store. If Temple Run did something like this, I’m sure it would be an even greater success, because this sort of change is really refreshing.

Subway Surfers is a fantastic application that’s well designed and works perfectly. The only criticism I could possibly make would be that the characters in the store probably cost too much.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.3.3 and up
Market Link: Subway Surfers
Developer: Kiloo Games

Extra

There is one other app that I feel you should know about, but, I don’t think it’s right for the main section of the article. The app I’m talking about is Temple Run Brave, the version of Temple Run based on the much loved — by me especially — Disney movie. And while this may still be the same game by the same creators of Temple Run, there are some slight differences that make it unique. These include being able to shoot your bow to gain rewards as well as playing as some of the main characters in the story – and really who doesn’t want to play as a Merida?

Temple Run Brave — A fun game for around £0.63.

Wrap-Up

Everyone one of these games is geared towards the Temple Run crowd, but the subtle — and not so subtle — differences make each of these games suited towards a different type of personality. My personal favourite is Subway Surfers. It’s perfect for my gaming style and I could easily spend a few hours trying to improve my high score!

Are there any other great Temple Run alternatives that we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.

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Enjoy Facial Unlocking on a Per-App Basis With Visidon Applock Plus!

Summary 9/10

A great facial recognition tools that lets you restrict your device on a per-app basis.

• Visidon Applock Plus  |  
• £1.99  |  
• Visidon

You’ve undoubtedly heard of Ice Cream Sandwich’s ‘Face Unlock’ feature. It was a big selling point for the Galaxy Nexus, and more and more devices with front-facing cameras advertise it as a feature.

Though it’s a nice novelty of a tool, it hasn’t got a tremendous reputation. A lot of people have trouble getting Face Unlock to recognise them for the first time, and even when it does work, it only protects the lock screen of your device. Wouldn’t it be nice to use a face-locking mechanism on a per-app basis? Well thanks to Visidon Applock, you can!

Easy to Get Going

Once installed, the first step is to add a password or pattern unlock from within the application. This means that if you are in a dark room or the application doesn’t recognise your face, you are able to bypass the restriction by entering a password. Once this is done, you are thrown into the application’s settings page.

From here you can begin Face Training. What sets Visidon Facelock apart from Ice Cream Sandwich’s built-in facial recognition is that the acknowledgement and capture of your face is made far clearer via a strength indicator and a rectangle which adjusts to the size of your face. I myself find Face Unlock’s “Put your face here” approach far too inaccurate and cumbersome.

My apologies for the mugshot

Once you have taken a few shots you can switch to ‘Apps’ at the top of the screen, and tick off the applications you want to restrict. Being able to restrict individual applications and areas such as ‘Settings’ is terrific, especially as it only requires a tickbox to be checked.

You can restrict any application or shortcut you wish, handy!

Liveness Detection

This feature is another that allows Visidon Applock to sit above Face Unlock. If you’re using Face Unlock, then people can get into your phone by showing a picture of you to the camera, whether a printed photograph or a Facebook photo, this often works. Visidon Applock stops this by using ‘Liveness Detection’, which checks for blinking, subtle twitches across your face, and general movement.

Ice Cream Sandwich Not Necessary

This is the real winning feature for Visidon Applock. You can run it on devices as far back as Android 2.3. So if you have a device with 2.3, 2.3.3, 3.0, etc., and a front-facing camera, you can enjoy facial recognition technology.

Variable Re-Lock Time

Once you’ve proven your identity, it would be silly for your device to request it again each time you attempt to load or reload a restricted application. Thankfully if you lengthen the authentication timeout in the application’s settings, you can unlock all the applications on your device for up to 30 minutes at a time. I wouldn’t mind seeing this upper limit lengthened myself, as 30 minutes can pass by very quickly sometimes.

Does It Work Well? What For?

It works superbly. Now that I’ve added 30 images of myself to the application (which did not take long), nobody who uses my tablet has been able to get into my device’s settings or other restricted applications. I managed to spoof it once by waggling a photo of me in front of it, but it has a great track record.

As for applications to use it on… anything goes! I personally restrict my system settings, PayPal, Skype, Plume, Latitude, and Messenger at the moment, but if you can see an icon in the app-drawer, Visdon Applock can secure it for you. If you set the timeout to a high value, then each time you unlock your device, all of these applications are opened up and you would never even know Applock was there. The only way you know it’s running is by a small padlock icon in your notification area, which you can disable anyway.

Slightly Confusing Interface

Though the application works wonderfully, the interface (especially the configuration pages) seems a bit clumsy and as though not much attention was paid to them. For example, one of the first things you have to do when you install Visidon Applock is put some images of your face into the database, but the link to do this is halfway down the list of Settings. Due to this, it could be rather confusing to new users and this is reflected in reviews on the Google Play page.

This interface is confusing. The Face Training link I've scrolled to is actually quite far down the list.

Experimental Lockscreen Feature

Bizarrely, something that the developers of Visidon Applock consider ‘experiemental’ is the ability to be a lockscreen for the entire device. This has a mixed success rate across devices; on some it works well, and on others not at all. I’m hoping it won’t be long before it supports my Transformer, but at the moment my experience with it is buggy to say the least.

Final Thoughts

If you want to have a go at using facial recognition technology on your Android device, look no further than this application. It works well and supports a tremendous amount of devices across Android 2.3-4.0.4, far more than Ice Cream Sandwich does.

For an Appstorm rating Visidon Applock Plus gets 9/10. It’s a well made security application, and its only let-down (the loss of one point) is a slightly confusing Settings and Configuration page. Otherwise, top-notch.

The link below in the summary is to the paid version of Visidon Applock, but you can try it out for free using this version, with one or two features removed and the inclusion of ads.

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Simpsons Tapped Out: Springfield Rebuilding Fun

Summary 9/10

Simpsons Tapped Out is the newest and most exciting town building game for Android. Having the chance to build up your town with the help of your favourite characters from the show is a great experience.

• Simpsons Tapped Out  |  
• Free  |  
• Electronic Arts Inc

The Simpsons is one of the most widely popular animated TV shows in the world, and when Simpsons Tapped Out was available on iOS devices at the start of 2012, I couldn’t wait for the app to come to Android too. At the time, there were rumors about a release date but all seemed to be false. It wasn’t until February 2013 that Android users got the game they’d been waiting for — it was only a year late…

In Simpsons Tapped Out, you send characters away to do specific tasks and a few hours later you’ll gain a reward. Being grind-based, the game isn’t essentially suited for players who want to engage continuously for long periods of time. However, fans of the show are bound to be thrilled. Simpsons Tapped Out mimics perfectly the TV show and its characters, and has so far attracted a huge amount of players. Read on to find out more…

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Back-Story

After you’ve downloaded the game and patiently waited for the numerous updates that follow, you’ll be shown a movie where Homer is playing another town building game — which looks like Smurf Village. Homer complains about various things and gets distracted from his job. The power plant then explodes, destroying Springfield and everything in it.

Time to start building!

Once the movie has finished you’ll be faced with Homer and an empty patch of grass. The game will then lead you through a tutorial that’s quite essential for grasping the gameplay basics. After the introduction is finished, you can roam freely and decide what you would like to do next.

Gameplay

The objective of Tapped Out is first and foremost to build up your town as much as possible. This is done by progressing through levels and collecting money. Both are either gained from income tax off your existing buildings or when you send characters away for missions. The maximum level so far is number 26 and it’s probably going to take you quite a while to get there.

My Springfield so far.

The reason for this is the length of different missions that each character has to complete. These range, in duration, from around 45 seconds all the way up to ninety days — obviously, the missions with a longer length give a much better reward. Some of these will be compulsory, and if you don’t do them, you won’t be able to advance. But apart from these, the rest is really up to you. Being strategic on Tapped Out means timing the missions to when you will be playing (e.g. if you sleep for six hours, set a six hour mission to gain maximum effectiveness.

One Easter Egg is available for you when Homer is on the “Play On His MyPad” mission. You can tap on him ten times to gain a special reward.

Each character has his own missions.

One more factor players need to consider is their “Conform-o-meter”, which evaluates their town and gives bonuses dependingly. The meter is split into six different categories, and clicking on each will show you how to improve it. As you can see below I have three and a half stars which means when I collect rewards I gain an extra 3.5% money and XP.

The “Conform-O-Meter” is an important part of Tapped Out.

While this game may be free to play, there are in-game purchases in the form of doughnut bundles. Doughnuts have many uses in Springfield, one being the ability to speed-up mission and building completion in order to finish tasks quicker — perfect for the users who don’t really want to wait around.

The different amounts of doughnuts available for purchase.

The other advantage of doughnuts is premium items, which include buildings such as “Barney’s Bowlarama” and the “Duff Brewery”. You can also buy extra characters like “Hans Moleman” or “Bumblebee Man.” For the fans, these buildings will be pretty significant and will make your town look a lot cooler. These objects also increase your general rewards with added bonuses.

Doughnuts give you a few more building choices.

Graphics

What really impressed me about Tapped Out is that the UI is beautiful. Every character, building and plant looks just as realistic as the television show. I find that a lot of similar town-building games seem to suffer drastically in terms of design and that really lets me down. One recent instance for example was The Hobbit: Kingdoms, where I really disliked the graphics and stopped playing altogether.

The graphics on Tapped Out are superb and reminiscent of the show.

Graphics were obviously very important to the developers of Tapped Out and this has allowed them to intensely connect with the show’s audience. After all, Simpsons fans are likely to play the game and they aren’t going to be disappointed. Playing Simpsons Tapped Out feels just like watching an episode of the show.

Lack of a Social Element

On the iOS version of Simpsons Tapped Out, users have the chance to add friends to their game. This allows them to visit other Springfields and gain some extra cash and experience along the way. Many users have exploited this to their own gain by having hundreds of friends and gathering cash off each one every single day — helping to increase their bank balance. However, the Android version doesn’t allow this yet.

This social aspect is a major part of the game’s structure and without it, Android users are really missing out. However, it seems that this feature will come in a future update.

Another letdown that has become obvious and quite annoying for me is the fact that there is no way to change the notification sound. Every time a mission is completed — even if it’s in the background — you’ll hear Homer shout very loudly. And unless you want your sound off at all times or you want to disable all notifications from the app (if you have Jelly Bean), then this soon becomes frustrating. The only tip I could give you would be to remember to turn the sound off if you are anywhere important or about to go sleep — I’ve woken up once or twice in the middle of the night to Homer’s shout!

Wrap-Up

Simpsons Tapped Out is one of the best town building games I’ve played in an awfully long time. It seems to perfectly handle everything that was wrong with similar apps and EA have created an extremely fun experience. Tapped Out won’t disappoint the TV show’s fans, as it’s very faithful to it in its design, graphics and experience.

After a year of waiting I’m finally happy that I can now use and play Simpsons Tapped Out on my Android device, and I can’t wait for the future updates that should bring the social features.

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Conquer the Galaxy in Spaceward Ho!

Summary 8/10

A faithful port of a classic Macintosh 4X space game that's still compelling and fun today, Spaceward Ho! conquers the galaxy and your touch-screen in elegant fashion.

• Spaceward Ho! 1.1.5  |  
• $4.99  |  
• Ariton

I’m loving the current trend of old games getting polished up and ported to new platforms. It exposes new audiences to ideas that maybe don’t get the due they deserve nowadays, dishes out nostalgia to fans of the original, and explores how old-school gaming can adapt to the pick-up-and-play modern world.

But it’s not often one of my old favorites gets a reboot. Galactic conquest game Spaceward Ho! was a mainstay on the Mac in the 90s, burning through five major revisions over 13 years and helping pave the way for the likes of Mater of Orion and Gazillionaire, and now it’s been resurrected for Android. Let’s see how classic holds up.

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4X Spacefaring

Spaceward Ho! puts a quirky turn-based twist on the 4X — explore, expand, exploit, exterminate — space genre, plonking you down in a hostile galaxy with a single colony planet and a couple of scout ships. Your goal is to eliminate the rival (computer-controlled) players, of which there could be anywhere from one to eight, and grow your galactic empire.

Brave new world.

It all plays out on a simple 2D map, with cartoony-looking planets — each colony is represented by a hat the color of its owner — starkly outlined by a dense blackness. Spaceward Ho! isn’t the prettiest game around, especially given that its low-budget, yet personable, graphics have barely advanced since its last Mac release 10 years ago, but the relatively spartan visuals emphasize the depth of gameplay.

Ships cost money and metal. Metal must be mined from planets or scrapped from existing ships, while money comes from your colonies. Planets need to be terraformed before they can become profitable colonies, with an ideal temperature for each race. If a planet’s gravity is below 0.4G or above 2.5G, it will never turn a profit — strip-mine it and get out.

Mine the inhospitable planets for all they’re worth, then get out fast.

There’s only a finite supply of metal in the galaxy — which may be tiny or colossal, depending on your start settings — so it won’t be long before you brush up against rival players in a deathly arms race. Spaceward Ho!’s tense end-game of desperate battles for scant resources avoids the pitfalls of many games in the genre, keeping you engaged right to the very end.

Expect to be savagely beaten early on, and each time you choose to ramp up the difficulty — the computer opponents are no pushover, and their relentless aggression tricks you into a losing strategy where you spread defenses too thin and counter rashly.

This actually isn’t the end of the game; you can watch it through until Supernova occurs or a victor is decided.

Two-Pronged Economy

You can spend money on technological research that enables building of better ships — improving Range, Speed, Weapons, Shields, and Miniaturization (use less metal) — as well as “radical” research that results in major advances in all sorts of areas of your interplanetary empire. You cannot upgrade ships, but they can be scrapped for metal.

Adjusting the distribution of spending here involves tapping on pseudo-logarithmic bars. It’s a fairly imprecise exercise, but you can see at a glance which technologies are emphasized in research, which colonies are getting the most investment, and what proportion of income you’re burrowing away in savings.

Checking out my income, distributing research spending, and making sure Tarazed is focused on mining only.

The first ship built with a given set of attributes costs significantly more (in metal as well as money) than any identical future crafts, pressing you to be smarter and more economical about making use of technological advances. It’s often better to stick with ship types for longer, and to be frugal in allocating income to mining/terraforming a particular planet.

There are six different categories of ships:

• Scouts are great for exploring, travelling further than any others
• Fighters battle it out with enemy ships
• Dreadnoughts are the battleships of the universe, with immense strength and power (and cost)
• Tankers help you keep a fleet from running out of fuel on some deserted alien planet
• Colony ships establish bases on faraway planets
• Satellites act like turrets, passively defending a colony.

Building my first “Demon” fighter, along with three more. The first costs nearly seven times more than each of the others.

You have no control over battles, which take place over planets (travel between them is conducted via hyperspace). They are dice rolls, based on colony size, number of ships, and the strength — specifically Speed, Weapons, and Shields — of each ship, which you can watch in a separate screen.

Combat’s fairly rudimentary, but it does the job.

Smooth Transition

Ariton clearly put effort into adapting a 23-year-old Mac classic to a touch-based interface, with pinch to zoom and HUD elements flattened into a toggle menu on smaller displays, and the core game transitions flawlessly from mouse to touch controls, but there’s plenty more to be done.

The tablet interface offers more breathing room, but the toggles and contextual menus work well enough on a phone.

The bars for technology research and income/savings distribution are hard to adjust, especially on smaller devices, it’s not very inviting to first-time players, there’s not much in-game documentation — the help messages and Help menu do help, but so much is left unexplained — and the visuals could do with some upgrading.

The news feed doubles as a guide, offering advice and tips along the way. It could do more, though.

Spaceward Ho! has no music other than in the main menu (it never did, either, as far as I recall), but its sound effects remain a huge part of the charm. While you can enjoy it without audio, there’s a delightful charm in the “Let’s get out of here” of evacuating a planet, the “Hyah!” of travelling to a new planet, or the “Hmmm” of arriving at a new planet ripe for the picking, and the interface sounds are all remarkably tactile.

That’s kind of the appeal of the whole game — the tactility of the Spaceward Ho! universe, whether locked in a heated tête-à-tête war or preparing Armageddon or escaping the death of the galaxy’s sun. It feels somehow real, and there’s endless replayability — even without multiplayer, which should be coming in a future update.

Glorious 4X Simplicity

At no point in its five major Mac revisions from 1990 to 2003 did Spaceward Ho! stand at the cutting edge of graphics or gameplay, yet for the whole period (and still today) it elegantly abstracted galactic conquest into a thrilling race for resources that echoes the lawlessness of frontier America.

A few rough edges aside, the Android version is every bit as glorious as it was in the early days of color Macs. If you’ve been gunning for some good 4X gaming on Android, climb aboard. Master of Orion vets should enjoy its quirky simplicity, too. Spaceward Ho! stands not just as a fine game of galactic conquest, but also as an accessible — if inadequately-tutored — entry into the genre.

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