iPhone Article Zone

Street Fighter IV

If Street Fighter IV’s loading time is any indication of how good it is, playing it should summon unicorns, pixies and rainbows to my living room and my wife should exhibit an uncontrollable urge to hand-feed me cocktail sausages while I “labor” through the game’s levels. It took 55 minutes to download the game. Will it live up to the hype?

CAPCOM boasts that Street Fighter 4 is the iPhone/iTouch’s first true fighting game, featuring the same beautiful graphics and visceral game play the series is infamous for. Long-time fans (at the time I downloaded it [a $9.99 game mind you], it already had 73 User Ratings Reviews) can jump right into the action, while casual players can focus on training, using 1 of several settings and tutorials to hone their fighting skills.

Among it’s feature-set, Street Fighter 4 advertises multi-player/head-to-head play via Bluetooth (not WiFi), eight Street Fighter characters in seven different environments, new move sets including Unique Attacks, Special Moves, Focus Attacks, Super Combos and Ultra Combos, a robust “Dojo” boot camp which transforms neophytes into Street Fighter masters in five in-depth lessons, customizable controls for your style of play (players can move the virtual buttons/joystick anywhere they want on the screen and set their level of transparency), the ability to unleash “super moves” with a tap of the “SP” button, or toggle it off from the “Options” menu if you want to enter the button combo manually and four levels of difficulty: Beginner, Normal, Hard and Grueling.

Street Fighter IV’s animations, graphics and art-style are simply beautiful. To ensure the game’s performance integrity, CAPCOM reduced the original game’s impressive 3D models to sprites, a transition which is practically impossible to differentiate on the iPhone’s screen. While a tad clunky at times, the animations are visually fluid and the game features the same art style, visual style and character move sets seen in the console and arcade versions. When starting the game, its cinematic intro is extraordinary, inter-weaving gorgeous hues of color and animation against a gorgeous, animated, black-and-white backdrop.

Street Fighter IV’s Title Screen offers Solo Play (Tournament, Free-Sparring, Dojo and Training Room), Versus (Head-to-Head Bluetooth play), Stats (Stats), Invite A Friend (via email), Get More (opens Capcom iPhone webpage in Safari) and Special (Special Movie Footage). There are also Settings and Help icons:

For those of you who have the memory of a gerbil, like me, you can access the (moves) Command List for instructions on how to do moves by pressing “pause” from anywhere within the game.

Game play is fluid, but the “virtual touch” control scheme can take some getting used to, proving tricky to pull off moves/strikes requiring complicated thumb-stick/button-combo motions (CAPCOM claims ten months alone went into the unique virtual control system). After practicing in “Dojo” mode, I was able to navigate the game’s virtual controls problem-free.

As stated earlier, the controls are customizable. Players can move the buttons anywhere they want on the screen and set/adjust their level of transparency, enabling them to adjust the controls in a manner which works best for him/her:

This was a very smart move/feature on CAPCOM’S part, because everyone responds to/uses touch controls differently, especially while engaged in a fast-paced duel to the death, so proper placement and comfort are key issues. While the touch controls may take some getting used to, I was able to navigate, i.e. pwn other fighters in no time, although I was playing on Beginner in the Dojo. Advanced controls will take some practice, especially during high/advanced levels of competition requiring precision. That said, my only concern regarding Street Fighter IV for the iPhone is a major one: its capability of offering the same game play depth as its console counterparts. Players able to master the game’s virtual controls will reap the fruits of their labor, while those unable to will be exposed to restricted game play. There is hope, however, in the form of the Dojo mode, which allows players to practice/train until they gain the skills needed for advanced game play.

Multiplayer support is currently restricted to “Head-to-Head” battle, via Bluetooth. Hopefully, multiplayer via WiFi is on CAPCOM’S future update agenda.

Speaking of “restrictions,” Street Fighter IV’s current line-up consists of only eight fighters: Abel, Blanka, Chun-Li, Ryu, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Guile and Ken, all of whom possess different fighting styles, “special” moves and abilities. Hopefully, future updates will introduce additional fighters, whether as “unlockables,” or in-app purchases (preferably the former).

All aside, I love this game. CAPCOM spent a lot of time developing it and it shows. Street Fighter IV for the iPhone/iTouch is a complete, quality port of its console counterpart that will appeal to both hardcore veterans and newcomers. It features a slew of extra/additional content and although the game currently features only eight fighters, as opposed to its console brethren, these fighters (with the exception of newcomer, Abel) are classic CAPCOM characters who have retained their classic moves/abilities.

Street Fighter IV’s $9.99 price tag is indicative of its superlative quality and, considering you’ll have Street Fighter IV at your disposal to play anytime, anywhere, it is money well spent. I highly recommend this game to any/all lovers of the Street Fighter franchise or anyone who enjoys a quality 2-D fighter.

NewsAlert

If you want news custom-tailored to your liking, you should look at NewsAlert. This news app delivers news based solely on your specified keywords, presumably saving you the trouble of wading through RSS feeds. For the most part, it’s a solid experience, and the app pulls from a wide array of sources to make it worth your while.

The first thing you’ll want to do is pick some keywords. The app suggests keeping tabs on your favorite bands or your hometown as well as traditional keywords (i.e., “education”). These keywords then appear as list items in the main view. Whenever NewsAlert finds a new article relating to one of your keywords, you receive a push notification. The app tracks all of the articles that come in, and then you can view them based on the tag. You get 10 keywords to use, with more available via in-app purchase.

The viewer itself is nothing special—like most in-app web browsers, it’s slower than Safari and some of the screen space is wasted by the app itself. Pinch-to-zoom is also a bit jerky. I wish that opening articles in Safari could be selected as the default action (it’s still there, but it takes a few button taps.)

For the most part, getting news articles based on keywords is a good experience. It’s not perfect, however; too often, I get duplicate articles when major events happen. I don’t need to read the results from the latest Maryland basketball game ten times…in fact, I wish I could filter sports results out of my “Maryland” keyword altogether, but that’s not an option. Still, the app does turn up some interesting articles. I wouldn’t rely on it as my sole source of news, but as an addition to my daily routine, it works. It also works particularly well if you’re tracking an artist rather than a general keyword, because then you’re more likely to get interesting interviews or news about albums or tours.

It’s ultimately your call whether or not a simple dollar is worth getting keyword-specific news. The app is well-built, so no complaints there. For me, this is more of a novelty app than a real news source—I’ll stick with my old-fashioned RSS, because I like reading from specific sites. But if you’re the type who needs news on a specific topic from a variety of sources, NewsAlert won’t disappoint. It all depends on your individual needs.

The Hero

Much like going to the movies, there are two ways of going into a new game. You can either go in thinking that it is going to be fantastic, or you can go in with no expectations at all. Rarely do high expectations pay off, but when they do, it makes for the best experience possible. Unfortunately, my expectations for The Hero were through the roof after seeing what I called at the time “the best app trailer ever”.

Much like the trailer showed off, The Hero is a superhero action game where you, The Hero, protect the world from the very Dr. Robotnik-like Dr. Hubbub and his band of evil militants. The game basically amounts to you flying around the screen while running into all the bad guys and potential disasters that you see. There are no punching or kicking moves, although you are given a few superpowers along the way… the majority of the time it is just up to your ability to ram into targets. The enemies, as expected, vary greatly from the stationary bombs to slow moving, high hit point tanks, to high flying satellites with laser beams. There are no real hit points in the game, only a “fame” bar, tracking how much the people adore you. Every time you get hit, hurt civilians, or let babies fall out of windows (seriously), your fame drops, but it can be regained by high-fiving supporters and killing bad guys. Once your fame meter runs all the way down, you lose.

The game really works on a number of levels, mostly being the graphics. There is something extremely satisfying about seeing a game on your iPhone that looks like it could just as easily be on XBLA. On my iPhone 3G, there were no slowdowns of any kind, and apparently on the 3GS you can enable a better graphics mode that runs at 60fps. I can’t imagine the game looking any better than it already does, but I’d love to see it try. The other winner here are the controls, which are almost simple to a fault. The Hero is controlled with a floating virtual joystick that works no matter where your thumb is on the screen. For the first hour or so the controls were spectacular, but I noticed after awhile that all the quick moving on the glass screen was giving my thumb a blister. Never being the kid that complained about thumb blisters, I played through the annoyance, but it was quite annoying.

My real gripe with The Hero is the story. After watching the trailer a few times, I was really excited about learning the story behind The Hero. I was hoping that the game would be an epic, taking you from the heyday to the point that he is in the video… depressed and smoking. I wasn’t expecting anything amazing, but I was hoping for a humorous Raging Bull-like downfall story. Instead I got a few screen before each level of a doting police chief and a press girl that seemed like a sexed up version of Moneypenny. On its own, the story isn’t awful, but my expectations were far too high for what I ended up getting.

While I certainly enjoyed playing all 15 levels of The Hero, I didn’t finish the game with the excitement that I wanted to. Unfortunately, this was a case there the trailer was so good that it actually took away from the overall experience. With the campaign mode and the survival modes afterwards, I’d expect a few hours of gameplay… certainly enough to warrant a purchase. Just don’t expect the app to be nearly as good as the trailer.

The Graveyard

I recently picked up Heavy Rain, for the PS3, and played it through in one setting. After being locked to the television for 8 hours straight, my wife had to come peel me from my chair. The game was an amazing experience, and really expanded my interest in cinematic gaming experiences. When I saw The Graveyard out for iDevices, I jumped at the chance to once again experience this style of play.

I believe it’s silly to assume that you’ll find a similar scope in a PS3 game that you will in an iDevice game, but I was surprised at how fast my gaming experience ended in The Graveyard. My best comparison would be assigning Heavy Rain a full motion picture length, and The Graveyard being a YouTube video. There isn’t anything wrong with YouTube videos; they just usually aren’t all that long.

Length aside, The Graveyard provides an extremely powerful message, though I think that message will be lost on a lot of people, especially the younger crowd. The game boils down to a look back on the life of an elderly woman, as she passes through the graveyard of people who have come and gone before her. At the end of the long stretch of graveyard is a bench that the elderly woman sits on to rest.

The goal of the game, for lack of a better term, is to slowly walk this woman through the long corridor of the graveyard and sit her down on the bench. Once there, the real message of the game begins.
Control wise, the game plays fairly rough. My first play through found me moving from side to side, not truly understanding how to get the woman to move straight down the path. After getting to the bench, I wasn’t sure how to sit down. I checked out the instructions by pressing the bottom right hand corner. They explained how to sit down, but when I tried to close the window in the same manner I opened it, I was tossed to an internet site. I closed out and restarted the game, and had to make the slow walk once again.

I’m having trouble really coming to a conclusion on if to recommend this game. At $1.99 it doesn’t provide a LOT of gaming potential. As an art form, it’s an amazing experience. It’s an easy recommend based on its merits to artists. It’s visually appealing; the impressive graphics matched with the soft black and white environment make it great to look at. I keep coming back to the short game play for the price, however.

My recommendation for the reader would be to try out the free version if you appreciate various forms of art. If you have a very powerful experience, grab the full version to support the developer. The only difference between the two, according to the developer, is that death is a possibility in the full version. Not the best marketing plan, but I am a big advocate for supporting developers who create a worthwhile product.

If the hidden messages and deep meanings behind song and art really don’t fit your fancy, The Graveyard is not for you. You would be better to try the free version if your curiosity is still peaked. That said, my own personal opinion is that it was a beautiful display of how game and cinema can be joined together for a fully interactive experience. I hope more developers follow suit with this approach.

Readdle Docs

Rarely do you find such a versatile, functional app in the App Store. Readdle Docs is pretty much the only document storage/reader app you’ll ever need—the viewer is clean and functional, grabbing documents from a variety of sources is easy, and you can’t beat the interface or the vast array of features. Readers take note: if you ever need to handle documents on your iPhone, Readdle Docs is the reigning champ.

Importing Your Files
The first step with any file management app, importing files can be a headache depending on the range of choices available. With Readdle, you’ve got a lot of options. You can import files from a MobileMe iDisk account (either yours, or a public one), Google Docs, Dropbox , Box.net, or filesanywhere. Readdle also gives you a free 512 MB online storage account with your purchase of the app. Files can be downloaded from any of these sources, or you can connect your iPod as a wireless drive and transfer files straight from your computer. You can also use the built-in browser to download files from the web. It’s all quick and easy. No complaints here!

File Types
Readdle supports PDFs, Microsoft Office, and Apple iWork file types, as well as image files. Again, pretty much what you’d expect; if you need a non-supported document format, just print it out as a PDF. (I recommend the free doPDF utility.)

The Viewer
This is where Readdle really shines. I’ve tested the viewer fairly rigorously—I’ve read three novels on it so far—and it performs consistently and well. One tap brings up the interface, which otherwise stays invisible and out of your way. Here, you have the option to lock the screen orientation (a godsend!), add or jump to a bookmark, scroll through, or—if it’s a plain .txt file—make changes to the text. The reader handles large files fairly well. From time to time the app would freeze for a second or two, but scrolling through my ebooks was mostly a pleasant experience. The “BookReader settings” aren’t as varied as you’ll find in other, more specialized apps (there’s no inverting font and background colors, for example) but you can still change the font and its size. All formatting was perfectly preserved, and I really can’t fault the viewer for anything except the occasional lag.

It’s All About the Details
All the nice touches are here, too; for example, the app automatically opens to the last document and close to where you stopped. Many of the awesome features aren’t immediately obvious. For example, you can forward any email with attachments to a special address and have those attachments show up in your Readdle storage account. You can password-protect your files, and save entire webpages for offline reading. The interface is easy on the eyes, even if the icons don’t quite look native. Readdle is a mature app, and it shows.

Overall
I’ve used numerous document viewers on my iPod, but none of them are quite perfect. Readdle isn’t flawless, but it’s so incredibly close that I can’t imagine using anything else. For me, the Dropbox integration seals it as an amazingly easy method of keeping all my documents close at hand; your mileage may vary depending on what sorts of files you need to carry and how large they are. Still, if you ever need a document viewer or file manager app, Readdle is my number-one recommendation. It’s a complete, complex workhorse of an app with a broad feature list, good performance, and a solid interface. What more do you want? For $4.99, Readdle Docs is an easy recommendation.

GeeTasks

Procrastination is probably my biggest problem. I mean, it’s easy for me to think about the things I’ve got to do…but actually doing them is another story. I’ve used a lot of different to-do apps to try and cure me of my laziness, but it’s too easy to waste time organizing you list of to-do’s instead of getting things done. GeeTasks takes a different approach, utilizing Google’s bare-bones Tasks pane from gmail. What GeeTasks lacks in features, it makes up for with ease-of-use and simplicity.

If you’re a gmail user, you may have seen the Tasks link that resides just under “Contacts” in the gmail interface. Clicking on this brings up the Tasks pop-up, which is a minimizable overlay that provides a simple to-do list. I’ve taken to using this instead of more complicated iPhone apps or websites, because I’m always in gmail. Having my to-do list constantly staring at me is the perfect way to stop procrastinating! That’s what I tell myself, anyway. The only flaw with this method is that I can’t take my Tasks offline, or even onto another platform.

GeeTasks fills that void. It’s simple, and the service it provides isn’t a huge one: it lets you download your gmail Tasks, as well as create new ones for later syncing. When you create a task, you can add notes, set a due date (which will be synced with Google Calendar), and place it in a pre-existing list from Google Tasks. The app also has a badge pop-up showing you how many tasks you have outstanding, and you can “purge” your list of completed items or sort it by date. The only feature “missing” is the ability to create a new list, which is a confusing ommission. It’s not as though I like managing multiple lists (this is a simple app!), but it’s a native feature to Tasks.

Of course, if by “missing” you mean “standard in other apps,” then you’ll find quite a few things gone. There are no tags, custom backgrounds, repeating tasks, or syncing with services like Outlook or iCal. But then, wasn’t the whole point of this simplicity?

As for the user interface, it does a delightful job of getting out of your way while still providing functionality. While it doesn’t quite have the look of a native app, GeeTasks still sports a clean, sensible aesthetic. Little touches like showing red checkboxes instead of green for unsynced tasks go a long way towards making it as user-friendly as possible. Landscape mode is also fully supported, which is another good feature.

So, is GeeTasks the to-do app for you? That depends. It’s nothing fancy—indeed, few apps are quite as simple. It won’t work if you’re a power user. But if you’re a person like me, who just needs to be bothered into getting her tasks done, the simplicity of GeeTasks will force you to stop procrastinating and simply get to it. After all, isn’t that what we all need?

Bit Pilot

Where I live, there is no such thing as a video game arcade. They all died off in the mid-to-late 80’s. As a teenager, I spent much, i.e. all, of my time at one of three different arcades where I live, shoving all my allowance and grass-cutting proceeds into the coin-slotted mouths of unassuming coin-operated conmen encased in fiberglass or wooden cabinets. Hence, while I’m not really “into” retro/retro-style games, I can certainly appreciate them and the nostalgia they invoke.

Bit Pilot is an intense, retro, asteroid-dodging game. It boasts intuitive and precise touch controls, a good soundtrack by Sabrepulse, unlockable soundtracks and bonuses, eleven challenging achievements and OpenFeint integration (global high-score lists and rankings).

Bit Pilot’s premise is simple: Score as many points as you can by staying alive, i.e. keeping your ship intact, as long as possible. In so doing, you must dodge ever-evolving asteroids and lasers as long as you can, while collecting power ups, giving you health, in the form of “shields” and points. Blue/orange pills are worth 1000 points and red/blue pills give you health (an extra shield) and 250 points:

Bit Pilot contains two levels/modes of game play: Easy, which you begin with and Normal (un-lockable achievement by scoring 3500 points on Easy). You start with two shields (three lives). Each “hit” you take from an asteroid removes a level of shield protection. When you run out of shields and your bare ship hits an asteroid, it’s “game over.” As the game progresses, the asteroids (Gray, Yellow and Red) grow bigger and move faster and deadly laser beams make their debut, vaporizing your ship if you touch them.

Bit Pilot has different “unlockables,” in the form of additional music and wallpapers. Whenever your cumulative score reaches a certain level, these “unlockables” become available. They’re not much though and do little, if anything, to add to the game’s already-high replay value. The game also uses OpenFeint, allowing you to see who else is playing and challenge them to beat your highest score.

Bit Pilot is great for long or short term play. While players will love both modes, Normal mode is more challenging and thus, games are quicker and end faster, while Easy-mode games last longer. Bit Pilot’s intense game play is attributed to its winning formula for/of frenetic pace: The movement of the asteroids, etc. combined with your ship’s speed and movement, having to constantly dodge obstacles while collecting “bonuses” and its unique, innovative and intuitive game controls.

To control your ship, you simply swipe your thumb in the direction you want your ship to move and swipe in the opposite direction to slow your ship down (or hit a wall). You can also use both thumbs for quicker moves (to make the ship “boost” in the direction you swipe) and tighter control of your ship (Note: These are indeed my thumbs):

Initially, I found the control scheme awkward and unresponsive, resulting in me spastically thumbing my iPhone while my ship careened against the asteroids/walls within the level. However, after enough practice, i.e. being blown to bits and humiliatingly vaporized over and over, I found the controls to be “spot-on.” It does contain/require a “learning curve,” but after you’ve practiced enough to learn how to control your ship, you’ll find the innovative control scheme to be immersive, fun and rewarding.

Bit Pilot’s music/soundtrack, as mentioned earlier, is provided by Sabrepulse, a “chiptune” musician in Aberdeen, Scotland. The game includes 4 tracks, including the theme track. You can choose to play your favorite or opt for random selection once you’ve unlocked the others. While I’m no expert on “chiptune” or retro soundtracks, I will say this: Hearing Bit Pilot’s soundtrack invoked many memories of the time(s) I spent in “old-school” arcades.

While Bit Pilot, at face value, may not seem to have much to offer, the exact opposite is true; it’s a deceptively-intense game with a lot of personality, fluid controls and a thought-provoking soundtrack. It’s a successful, innovative “retro-infused” modern take on a well-defined, often-finicky genre. At only .99, Bit Pilot is well worth your allowance: Bit Pilot Demo

Meebo

If you’re one of those people who boast huge numbers of buddies amongst several different networks, Meebo has a lot to offer you through its instant messaging network. Boasting around 65 different networks that it can communicate with, most people will find at least one group they already belong to on the list.

Meebo uses the built in iPod keyboard for communication which, in my opinion, is not a bad thing. It’s certainly not as easy as a full keyboard on a home computer, but it makes it fairly easy for short conversations back and forth. Additionally, it has the added functionality of grouping all friends throughout the various networks into one, easy to use buddy list. This added functionality is great for those that have several different accounts that they use to communicate with. Personally, it was a whole lot of unused power for me.

Meebo does make it extremely frustrating to communicate if you frequently switch between your home computer and your iDevice for instant messaging. More often than not I would be trying to communicate with someone in AIM on my home computer, see them continue to type items in the window I had popped up, and never see anything come through. Ultimately, this information was received by Meebo and was awaiting my return to the iDevice. I spent a bit of time trying to figure out what setting I had turned off, before I realized this.

Additionally, it took me several attempts to actually add each account, and some of them I could not add at all. For instance, I downloaded the app late last week and added all of my most used networks onto it. This process took 35 minutes because of the 4 networks I was trying to add, two of them didn’t ever end up working, and two of them took about 5 minutes each in the loading process. I came back a couple days later and finally was able to load one of the other two networks.

Even with these problems, adding networks isn’t all that difficult. The directions within the app are very clear, and finding networks is as easy as looking for them on the list within the app. Once located, clicking on the network will bring up an additional screen to interact with, before officially having the network loaded.

Graphically, Meebo is a lot of fun. Instead of the boring line by line conversations, chat bubbles appear on one side of the screen for you, and one side of the screen for whoever you are talking to. It makes it fun and easy to carry on conversations.

For those of you desperate to find a multi-network instant message program, Meebo is an acceptable option. It won’t necessarily make a difference, however, to those of us who restrict our conversation tools to one or two programs. The occasional problems with functionality further complicate the usability of the program as well. Overall, it’s really only for a niche audience at this point. Further improvements could see drastic changes to Meebo’s usability.

LockBox Pro

I rely on my iPhone for everything. When I’m on the road, my iPhone replaces my laptop. Subsequently, my iPhone contains most, if not all, of my data-sensitive information, personal and business.

As a result, the need for a private, secure data storage app presented itself out of necessity. Prior to my iPhone, I used a Blackberry that came with a standard “Password Keeper” application, made specifically for entering/storing sensitive data, such as passwords, credit card numbers, bank accounts, pin numbers, private notes, and any other private/ personal information. I loved the applications simplicity and sorely missed it when I made the transition to my iPhone.

As a result, I tried several data storage apps in the past, all offering a plethora of bells and whistles; most of which I don’t need/use. After repeatedly entering all my data into a new app time and again, only to have to revert to another app for one reason or another, I finally settled on using LockBox Pro.

LockBox Pro is a simple, straightforward application that executes as advertised, without all the unnecessary features (multiple predefined forms/categories, custom icons, customizable categories, integration with other services, etc.) and desk-top companion modules. Priced near the middle of the data storage app spectrum at $2.99, it also offers a “lite” version, aptly titled “LockBox.” LockBox is ad-supported, lacks bulk data importing and has limited data-entry fields (sub-fields are limited to two fields per entry).

LockBox Pro offers basic features, including strong security (data is secured via Apple’s Keychain, which utilizes 3DES encryption for high security), the flexibility to add as many fields as you like to each entry, the ability to rearrange and delete items in your list and the ability to import/export data from your computer into LockBox Pro (and visa-versa) using WiFi.

Upon opening LockBox, the user is asked to enter a 4-digit code:

After entering the code, the application “opens” to it’s main menu interface, which lists all entries in (unsorted or in alphabetical order, depending on the user):

This interface is straightforward, user-friendly and easy to use, offering 4 options: Edit, Add, Import/Export Data and Un/Auto-sort.

Edit and Add allow you to enter and change or modify new/existing entries. Each entry has a Title, Information section allowing you to input as many rows of data you need, a Category section containing 6 preset options and a Notes/Additional Info section, again with multiple data-entry fields:

Entering and modifying data is simple and straightforward. LockBox Pro is basic and lacks many advanced features of it’s more expensive counterparts.

Importing/Exporting data is also easy. Users simply enter an IP address into their browser to import, export and back-up data over WiFi, LockBox Pro lists its contents, which can then be pasted into a word processing file for storage. I was able to do so using Windows Notepad and Wordpad, but encountered problems using Microsoft Word.

And that’s LockBox Pro in a nutshell. It’s a basic, “no-frills” data storage application that I’ve found to be adequate, reliable and easy to use. Its simplicity is what makes it attractive, but at the same time prevents it from performing those advanced features found in similar applications. If you’re looking for a solid, basic data-protection app, LockBox Pro is a viable contender.

Pocket CPR

The Boy Scouts have a motto: Be Prepared. The Cub Scouts have one also, but it has nothing to do with being prepared, or this review. That said, iPhone users have access to thousands of apps in the app store that provide readily available expert reference and guidance regarding many different topics, allowing us (iPhone users) to always “Be Prepared.”

This is a review of Pocket CPR, an app that helps us “be prepared” to save a life in the event someone needs Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Although there are many similar apps in the app store, Pocket CPR is a training tool and is free.

Pocket CPR for iPhone “coaches” it’s user through the CPR process, using clear visual and audio step-by-step instructions, as well as feedback, to guide students or trained personnel through CPR practice. The app’s description contains the following disclaimer:

NOTE: The Pocket CPR for iPhone is currently for training and practice purposes only. The application is not yet cleared by the U.S. FDA for use in an actual rescue.

The one feature that separates this CPR (training) app from others, is its use of “feedback,” explained below.

When opening Pocket CPR, two things are immediately clear:

1. There’s not much really to this app, and
2. This app is for TRAINING USE ONLY.

The “I” links to a built-in users manual. The user can configure his/her settings to define a pre-determined emergency number, which is available for use throughout the process, or start CPR, “with breathing” and “hands only.”

Both processes provide clear audio and visual instructions, allowing the user to set the iPhone down until beginning chest compressions and every instructional screen (which the user can advance through using finger swipes) contains an option to dial the pre-determined emergency number.

Prior to the user/student/trainee beginning chest compressions, he/she is instructed (via audio and visual) how to properly hold the iPhone when giving chest compressions:

The student/trainee then receives instruction on proper chest compression techniques, e.g. hand placement, etc., then the “coach” kicks in, advising the user to begin CPR:

Pocket CPR then utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer hardware to pace chest compressions, detect the rate of actual compressions and the proper depth of those compressions (using the “Depth Gauge” and a corresponding red/green bar displayed on the screen) and notify the student to push faster, slower or remain at their current rate. This is all accompanied with/by visual and audio feedback:

After detecting 30 chest compressions, the app prompts it’s user to provide ventilations after the detection of 30 chest compressions:

The process repeats itself until it’s stopped by the user (I quit after 4 “sessions.”).

I did find it somewhat difficult (not to mention uncomfortable and precarious) to hold my iPhone in that manner while giving chest compressions. However, since this is a training app, none of that should factor into your use of the application. I also verified the accuracy of the app’s depth gauge by using a 12-inch ruler. It’s definitely accurate.

In all, if provided with the proper equipment (a CPR “dummy,” etc.) this is a good app for trained personnel and/or learning students to practice with, but I wouldn’t use it in a real-life situation. As impressive as this app is, it’s no substitute for real, proper training. If you’re looking for a detailed, instructional app for giving CPR, this is not it. It’s simply a good (free) training aid that compliments personal knowledge of the CPR process and how to perform it properly.