Alex: Hi! Welcome to AppVee TV, the only iPhone centric TV show on the interwebs. I am your host Alex Ahlund founder of AppVee.com.

Brian: And I am Brian O’Neal, your community assistant, let’s say I'm the janitor around here also office mate.

Alex: You do look especially cute walking around the office.

Brian: I really do, I do it to you know—to the office.

Alex: It certainly—me up that is for sure. So, for some of you guys that don’t know AppVee.com is one of the largest iPhone application review resources.

Brian: And sexiest.

Alex: It’s certainly the most erotic, so what we do is we look at all the application that are released, there is over 50,000 now.

Brian: Or like a million.

Alex: Give or take of you and we take all of the most recent apps and we first skim through them and see which ones are even worth looking into because there is so much garbage out there.

Brian: There are even more crap seriously.

Alex: And we find the gems and then we take those and we do end up reviews mainly with the focus on video. So, we bring this to you. We basically act as a filter and then show you the applications in-depth. So, when we first got the iPhone, we knew it was a revolutionary device. I mean I slept outside of an AT&T store in San Francisco.

Brian: Didn’t you like walk up hill both ways in the snow to get it?

Alex: Yes.

Brian: You love telling the story grumps, good one.

Alex: Yeah, it was really a long night. We got there I think 11 at night. And we did the full deal, we had a blow up mattress.

Brian: Blow up doll?

Alex: Blow up dolls, we have plenty of those. And also I mean homeless people are coming up to us. Bars were letting out, it was a horrible night, we got definitely sick but—

Brian: That actually sounds like a fantastic night.

Alex: Maybe for you but I like my sleep but at the end of the day we got the iPhone which was most important thing. I mean it’s a killer device and AppVee wouldn’t be here without it. So, what we want to do with this weekly show is go over some of the best and greatest apps that we’ve covered during the week, some of the big iPhone news, a few rents that we have, some comments and questions from you guys and also a give away.

Brian: A give away, that’s right.

Alex: We have a big give away, so let’s get right into it.

Brian: I am doing really good on parachute right now.

Alex: So, first up is Games. One of the most highly anticipated games that we’ve been waiting for at least has been SIM 3. I mean it looks gorgeous, it plays really smoothly.

Brian: I was blown away by the graphics. The fact that you can 3D going that smoothly on the iPhone and you know there is your occasional snag and all that but I thought the graphics were outstanding.

Alex: I mean the thing is the iPhone, it’s a pretty powerful device.

Brian: Yeah, it’s a sexy beast.

Alex: It’s a pretty sexy beast and it just takes the developers learn how to use the tool kits and really taking advantage of the full hardware. So, I am not surprised there.

Brian: And also, obviously a high budget—

Alex: Right, that would definitely help. No exactly. I mean it’s been number one for a while now. So, it’s what you shop up least, I mean it looks great but the question is how it plays. I mean I haven’t played a lot of SIMS on the PC. It’s just never really my job. So, how do you feel the translation from the PC to the iPhone has been?

Brian: Yeah, it definitely feels like SIMS light but not in a bad way. You can’t build a house like you could or like you have been able to in all the other SIMS. You can still like deck it out with a nice toilet and whatever makes you happy. But overall, I think it does a good job of staying true to this SIMS character.

Alex: Okay. I mean one thing that I have always had a big problem with this effect that when they bring these big games to smaller platforms or platforms that are not natively developed on, it’s a water down, it’s just you know, you have a better billions version of the real game it’s like—

Brian: They tried to ride the title over and get you to buy the title. Yeah, I see what you are saying. And here I think they did it right, I think they did SIMS 3 when my refrigerator broke.

Alex: I mean did you feel like it’s still missing features that you really enjoy on the PC?

Brian: There are features I would like but for example I like to be able to build a sweet bachelor pad. The fact that it is missing, I still find it an enjoyable game, you know, running around, I am catching fish in the town pond. That is pretty fun or I am chasing skirts around town.

Alex: which brings to us the probably the question on most people’s mind is, is there a naughty patch like there was on the PC? Do we see some people in bed here and there when they are in the shower, in the bedroom, whatever?

Brian: There is still the Mosaic. Sadly, I think I have too many ladies on shower yacht. And you just buy more ladies over to my bachelor pad.

Alex: Well, the SIMS it’s great. If you like the PC version, you will love this. We rate it at 4.8 so definitely check it out. So, next stop is Parachute Panic. It’s a game that has a really cool feel to it. It feels like the developers really put their heart into this game. It’s like it has this cool hand drawn art style, it’s a really corky like—

Brian: It reminds me of Doodle John kind of—

Alex: Flight Control, it has that kind of feel to it. One of my favorite things about it though is the music, it’s like—

Brian: The music is fantastic. It’s like this acapella background. I will see it if I can get it on the mic for you guys.

Alex: It’s a snap along.

Brian: It’s the number one summer jam.

Alex: It’s groovy that is for sure, in terms of game play I mean, it’s pretty simplistic. Here, you have parachuters jumping out on an airplane and you are trying to get them onto the boats. So, you have to click to have their parachutes open while avoiding like UFO’s.

Brian: Helicopters, UFO’s lots of sharks.

Alex: Lots of all crazy stuff so it has a cute style to it. But I mean I have always been a huge casual gamer. I like games I can just pick up and play, I'm on the subway, I'm in the bathroom, wherever. So, I mean I enjoy the game but I mean I know that you are not really casual gamer.

Brian: That is true I dream like a little bit more development and depth in my games. I found Parachute Panic to be kind of simplistic, you know the first one minute will show you most of what is in the game and also it’s pretty hard too, I died a whole lot.

Alex: It’s pretty damn hard, yeah I know.

Brian In fact that the dying music—

Alex: If the dying music is worth dying for, that is definitely true.

Brian: Yeah. Let me bring it up for you kids at home.

Alex: I died so many times just like I can groove again to this.

Brian: So, that is in game music and that’s me falling—

Alex: I was supposed to be walking on the office just “Game is over, try again.”

Brian: That’s right and I will be trying to work and you’ll always be like “Why are you jamming with the music?”

Alex: I'm sorry the game is over, don’t worry about it anymore. So, we gave Parachute Panic a 3.8 and we feel like if this—if you like pick up to play games, definitely check this one out, it’s worth it.

So, next up is Sonic the Hedgehog and let me tell you when I first saw that “SEGA”, it was just like—it was a blast from the past, it was like I was a kid again. I love Sonic as a kid. I played this all the time so I mean it’s great to play this. The biggest problem I had I think was with the on screen controls though.

Brian: Yeah definitely.

Alex: I mean the iPhone as a device, it’s an awesome gaming device, but when you have your limited auto only touch, it really limits the kind of games you can play.

Brian: I want my D-pad back.

Alex: Right, I mean you need a proper D-pad, a proper buttons so that was one down side. Other than that I mean, it’s literally Sonic, it’s the game we all knew and loved. It runs really well. The music is jerky at times but other than that, I didn’t see any hang ups. So, I mean the thing is if you love Sonic, you are going to love Sonic the Hedgehog for your iPhone. I mean you are not a huge Sonic fan—

Brian: No. I was all about Mario when I was younger. Mario 3 was where as that.

Alex: We wouldn’t have been friends.

Brian: We would have battled.

Alex: We took the battle non-stop—

Brian: I would have thrown so much mashed potatoes at you.

Alex: But it means, so yeah it’s a great recreation of the original game. So, if you love Sonic, if you can get over the touch screen controls then this is perfect for you. We give it a 4.6 because it does play, it does well. I mean it recreates it perfectly, so I recommend it. If you love using Sonic, give it a try. So, that is it for our game reviews and we are on two apps. That’s probably one of my biggest—you know we have over 50,000 applications and the bulk of them are just games.

And games are great. The device really could do a lot more and I think people are just taking advantage of that. Anyway, iEmoji is an app that we reviewed this week that—it’s really good for what it does. What it does is it unlocks the emoticons and that is called iEmoji in the Japanese keyboard. Why they did not come standard and why it was locked is beyond me. I have no idea what the rationale there was but what it does is it unlocks those so you can now use emoticons. So, you can use them in instant messages, emails, whatever.

Brian: I just sent you a nice emoticon.

Alex: Exactly you can—our feelings across this way.

Brian: Like I just dreamed about you.

Alex: So, I mean it unlocks this and you can now convey your feelings and thoughts. One of the biggest problems though is the fact that it doesn’t do it across other device, that’s right.

Brian: That is true. So, if you have friends with like normal phone or a Blackberry or something like that, you send them your ice cream cone. They are just going to get a little square box, the character cannot be displayed box.

Alex: Right but the thing is who doesn’t have an iPhone these days—

Brian: That is true and I mean you can use this to sell iPhones to your friends because you really like you know you could be getting an ice cream cone in your text message right now.

Alex: Yeah, straight selling point right there. Yeah and the main thing is I started using this with my friends a lot now. Instead of actually having to talk to them and I don’t have to text them anymore. It’s like words, I don’t really need to use words anymore.

Brian: It’s like you give a little hand with the finger pointing to you and they’ll thumbs down.

Alex: Exactly. And it really conveys your feelings to that actually having to speak them. It’s a next level of evolution. We gave iEmoji a 3.2 so if you want to unlock this functionality, go and check it out.

So, the big announcement from the WWDC is—

Brian: iPhone 3GS.

Alex: For speed, it’s two times faster than the current iPhone. It has a 3megapixel camera also.

Brian: Very cool, talk about the focus.

Alex: It has auto focus and touch auto focus, so if you are taking a picture and there is one thing you want to zoom in on and have the camera focus in on, you just double tap it.

Brian: Yeah. So, someone’s face or like the beer bottle back there whatever there.

Alex: It also captures video, thank God, it finally has video.

Brian: I mean even Blackberry can record video right now.

Alex: It’s pretty pathetic how long it took the iPhone to get video. It also can that you can edit the video right in your device so you can send it straight to YouTube, send it over email however you want.

Brian: You can also send multimedia messages.

Alex: Finally.

Brian: But AT&T kind of being like daddy here.

Alex: It’s pretty bad.

Brian: Right now AT&T has not officially signed on for that. They said something like the end of the summer AT&T should be on board. But for the bulk of the iPhone users that is a no go for now.

Alex: I mean the thing is if the iPhone moves from—if they break their exclusive contract with AT&T we’re just trying to renew it and they move to another—everyone is going to fuck the new—because AT is screwing us. I mean text message cost? Tethering MMS which makes us a tethering, we can now tether officially but AT&T won’t let us. What’s eventually going to happen is they are going to charge us 15, 20 bucks—

Brian: I think that is actually how it is the Blackberry, I want to say is you can get your whatever and then it’s 20 extra bucks or over that. So, I can I see AT&T doing that for the iPhone as well.

Alex: It has a built in—compass so now if you are on Google Maps or on any map program, when you turn, it re-orients the map for you because—direction you are standing.

Brian: You know I am a little skeptical about that because I know digital compasses and a lot of electronic devices can be pretty finicky to sync. You know there’s all this electronic noise going on around and how to shield in all that business—wait to see on the 3GS and hold the rest of my comments until then.

Alex: Okay fair enough, improved battery life. It has nine hours of surfing and 30 hours on standby.

Brian: 30 hours of music listening.

Alex: I mean the battery life is pretty atrocious right now so that is something I'm super excited about.

Brian: You know once again, I will kind of believe this one once I get my hands on a 3GS.

Alex: Right. I mean how much? How long can you gain for? How long can we do run certain applications, all of that stuff. It’s the greenest iPhone yet which is cool.

Brian: We do love the environment here and happy.

Alex: We do love the environment. Price points, it’s a $199.00 for the 16 Gig and $299.00 for the 32 Gig. That is only if you are new or qualifying AT&T customer though which sucks for the rest of us because we are already customers.

Brian: We want our 3GS too.

Alex: We want our 3G too, so I mean that is another thing that really isn’t so good about staying with AT&T but it’s our best option right now, available June 19.

Brian: June 19.

Alex: For some of the lucky people in the U.S, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland.

Brian: There are cool people.

Alex: It’s like Zimbabwe, Madagascar and US but for the rest of the world I think it’s in.

Brian: That’s later on in July.

Alex: It’s in July yeah so I'm super excited. It’s going to be a great new device. Should you upgrade? I am not entirely sure if I am going to be.

Brian: We are ready to plunk down the big bucks for.

Alex: Or you know sleeping outside the store for it, I don’t think I am going to do and repeat that.

Brian: I mean hey then you can tell that story to 20 more people.

Alex: That’s true. I don’t know if—I hope there’s at least 20 people watching.

Brian: That is true.

Alex: So, you know it’s pretty exciting $99.00 for the original iPhone 3G so they are going to get a whole new homeless little people signing on.

Brian: That is true. The people who were deterred by the price point before they now have an easier entry into the iPhone world. So, that is a good news for everyone because the larger baser is people using the iPhone obviously. The more emphasis will be placed on it in terms of developers all that.

Alex: Exactly. The more you out there the more we can do this and bring you our great sales. So, it’s a great announcement it’s the same iPhone but just better so we look forward to seeing that in June.

Brian: And that’s the Rant of the week

Alex: So, this weeks Rant is about the app store ranking system so the problem I have with it is. You look at the top 25 and most of these apps are 99 cents.

Brian: Because you know people like—and apps there, they are cheap to buy, they are kind of like an impulse back then.

Alex: Exactly but I feel like when you have that, you are also missing out a lot of great apps. And because the easiest way to find apps is to see the rankings that most people buy based on its ranking. You are missing out on some great stuff just because it’s more expensive. So, what I think they should do is, instead of basing based on units sold instead they base it on revenue made.

Brian: I mean I see what you are saying there so I think the point that you are trying to make is developers of more expensive apps are getting screwed because they have a much superior product but because fewer people buy it. It doesn’t move up there in the rankings. And it’s kind of like this repetitive cycle where it doesn’t move up in the rankings and more people don’t buy it. So, there is reinforcing for the cheap apps and negative reinforcing, negative feed backs for the—

Alex: It’s a fulfillment so the main thing is a lot of times some good 99 cents will come to the top. It’s still an impulse buy. It’s like a little bite size candy for a lot of people.

Brian: And the counter to that though is so one person buys a $10.00 app and 10 people buy a $1.00 app, there is 10 times the number of people playing that cheaper app. It’s still 10 times as more popular.

Alex: Because it is an impulse buy there we out the considering the value that they can get from this $10.00 apps. And it must give these high-end developers more exposure. We are not going to give these apps; we are going have a lot of these cracky little micro apps.

Brian: I mean that we are here for. That is why we got the sexy AppVee over here.

Alex: Sure but in still there—

Brian: I mean you know a lot of sales are driven by the AppVee ranking.

Alex: So, I think if Apple really wants to push this device they have to be going to figure a new way to expose some of the high-ends.

Brian: Alright.

Alex: It’s the rant of the week. So, the user sent me the question of the week comes from jungle23. And he asked what is the best Twitter application for the iPhone.

Brian: Well, we’ve looked at a number of Twitter applications and there is so many out there and more coming out.

Alex: Everyday it feels like there is a new one coming out.

Brian: What we use to use is Twinkle and that work fairly well but what we are using now is Tweety and it really has all the features that you need. You can obviously look at your tweets, look at other people’s tweet, you can look at your mentions, you can look at your messages all that. It really has just as I said everything you need so that’s our recommendation for Twitter application is Tweety.

Alex: I mean the thing is there are so many brits like the beyond the basic functionality. You don’t really need too much more or you are going to spend a lot of your time in your Twitter device. So, I think it’s definitely a great choice.

Brian: Alright Tweety, check it out.

Alex: So, this week’s give away comes from slacker radio. I love this some slacker.

Brian: You are a long time Pandora fan I thought.

Alex: I've been a long time Pandora fan, I’ve always find it so great but the biggest thing that I always run into is the fact of having five skips.

Brian: And I am making paper sing this, I actually like slacker radio more and the reason is unlimited skips.

Alex: I am a convert I think- it mean it has the same great functionality of Pandora but it does have limited skips if you have—so what we have is four pro accounts that will be good for one year subscription and it allows you unlimited skips. I am going to do the song recommendations and no advertisements. So, all you have to do to win a copy of this is send us a tweet to App@Vee and tell us your favorite music and why will that be.

Brian: Could be easy enough we are lovable people.

Alex: Exactly, next week we will announce who is the winner is – the four winners, we have four accounts.

Brian: Four winners.

Alex: And we will send it to you so it should be easy contest and we look forward to hearing your Twits.

So that is our show, thanks for sticking with us. Be sure to check us out next week for more giveaways, more apps, more questions, more reviews.

Brian: More us.

Alex: More sexy us so we look forward to seeing you then.