Your definitive guide to apps that make ideal gifts for Apple, Android and BlackBerry users.
Mobile applications or apps can keep tablet PC and smartphone users engaged for hours. With hundreds of apps releasing every day, these are the best gift this season for your app-addict friends or family members.
Though one can easily gift Apple and Android apps, other smartphone platforms like BlackBerry are yet to factor this feature in their app stores. Earlier this year, BlackBerry’s manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) had announced that users will soon be able to gift apps as birthday presents but the service is not available yet.
GIFTING APPS TO APPLE USERS
Apple is known to constantly improvise its products and services, which helps in keeping ahead of the competition. Most Apple users would be familiar with iTunes gift cards that are available in the US, enabling purchase of music, videos and entertainment content from iTunes. Since Apple does not allow Indian users to download original music, films, TV series and so on from its online store, iTunes gift card (obtained from your relatives or friends in the US) is a tested roundabout way of purchasing content for your Apple devices. There’s also the option to email an iTunes gift card – available in $15, $25, $50 and $100 denominations – or even print one out to gift someone else. The code on the gift card can be redeemed on iTunes.
But if you want to gift an app, just click the triangle (drop down menu box) next to any app’s price and choose Gift This App (naturally, you can’t gift free apps). You will then get a form to fill out with details like name and e-mail, the recipient’s name and e-mail, and, even an option to write a personal message. Apple also allows gifting of the same app to multiple people by entering their e-mail addresses. You can either choose to send the gifted app by e-mail or print out the gift yourself or post in a card or letter.
The gifted apps will show up in the iTunes Purchase history (user who has paid for the apps) and so if there’s a need to refund them (in case you accidentally bought a camera app for your friend’s camera-less iPod touch or bought a duplicate app) then you can get it easily from iTunes.
IOS APPS THAT SHOULD BE ON THE TOP OF YOUR GIFT LIST
Twitter users on iPhone or iPad who would like to hear tweets while walking on the street or when using public transport, instead of going through the pages, Tweet Speaker is perfect for you. It costs $2.99 and the app’s interface is similar to that of a radio. Hit the play button and you can hear your timeline with iPhone’s built-in voice reading the Twitter streams. It allows you to pick specific feeds as well, like mentions, or any lists you have set up. You can add multiple accounts and you can change the speed at which the streams are read (the speed of the voice).
Loopy HD, is a music app, which should please aspiring music makers and costs $3.99. The app let’s you record music loops, merge them, import them and keep them all in sync. The interface for Loopy is really slick and has one of the best Sonoma Audio Copy and Paste interfaces we have seen in any music app.
An app perfect for school children is Bobo Explores Light, available for $4.99. This interactive app is a learning tool that takes children on an educational journey to discover how light interacts with the world. As the developers claim, it is very much like having a science museum right on the iPad. Bobo the robot acts as the guide who is also capable of projecting in 3D.
GIFTING APPS TO ANDROID USERS
So you liked some Android application and wanted to gift it to your friends and family, only to realise that there is no way to do so. It’s hard to imagine why Google hasn’t implemented this feature yet, but the alternative lies on the Amazon Appstore for Android.
Amazon has readied its own app store for Android, called the Amazon Appstore for Android that neatly stacks the Android apps into categories and even enables users to buy Amazon gift cards that can be applied while buying apps from the store. Amazon’s Appstore in fact puts Android within striking distance of the iTunes store for the first time, from a functionality and desirability perspective.
Amazon’s Appstore gift cards, which you can email, send via Facebook, or even print out for any amount. This way you can give the gift of apps to other Android users, or provide your kids with an app allowance of sorts. To redeem, simply enter the card’s code value while purchasing the app from Amazon store.
ANDROID APPS THAT SHOULD BE ON THE TOP OF YOUR GIFT LIST
For $1.99, Paper Camera app packs in a lot of creative punch. The difference between this Android app and many others like it is the fact that you can select effects and view them through the “viewfinder” before taking the picture. The camera’s interface also provides easy access to real-time adjustments of contrast, brightness and lines (a characteristic of many of the filters).
Another Android app that would be appreciated is Easy Tether, through which you siphon off the internet connection from your phone to your computer. Priced at $9.99, the app once downloaded, guides the user step-by-step in such a way that even the most novices of users would be able to set up and establish a tethering connection to their computer.
THE $100 WORTH APPS THAT BLACKBERRY IS GIVING AS GIFTS
BlackBerry (BB) users cannot send apps to other BB users yet, but after the infamous BlackBerry outage that inconvenienced 70 million of its users, Research in Motion has responded by handing out paid apps worth $100 for free.
Free for all BB subscribers, these apps will be available between October 20 and December 31, 2011. BB users will get to play five games that include SIMS 3, Bejeweled, N.O.V.A., Texas Hold ‘Em Poker and Bubble Bash. For multimedia fans, Photo Editor Ultimate (an advanced image editor with many effects and image tweaks), Nobex Radio Premium (internet radio) and Shazam Encore (music discovery) are on offer. Collectively, these apps are worth roughly $20. The premium productivity apps such as Drive Safely Pro and Enterprise, iSpeech Translator pro and Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant promise to inject your BlackBerry device with some much-needed vitality. Collectively, these apps are worth about $80.
Apps like Drive Safe.ly can read text messages and emails out loud when looking at the screen puts you at risk (especially when driving). Also, you can respond to a text using just your voice. It’s a boon for those with visual impairments too. Apps like iSpeech Translator lets you speak or type a word or phrase and “speaks” out a translation in a language of your choice. A total of seven languages are currently available, with the developers promising that more are on the way. Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant puts a voice activated personal assistant on your phone — a service similar to Apple’s Siri, which debuted on the iPhone 4S just two weeks back. You can use the virtual assistant to find directions, update your social networks or search the Web. Vlingo claims that their technology includes an “intent engine” that uses intelligence to figure out what the user is saying rather than just recognising words.
But RIM’s official press release clearly states, “Availability of this offer will depend on the type of device, operating system version, access to BlackBerry App World and local conditions and/or restrictions.” In simple words, it means that not all apps will be available for all BB users.
