Get Gifting ~ Last minute Father’s Day gifts

Posted on Jun 19th, 2010 in Gossip / Reviews | 4 comments

Let’s get Gifting! Yes it’s Father’s Day soon and what a perfect way to celebrate – giving your Dad the gift of fun. It also helps if you’ve left it last minute and haven’t got him a pressie yet~

To gift an app all you need to do is click on the little arrow symbol on the right side of the purchase area, as shown below:

When you click on it, it will take you to a page within iTunes where you can fill out all the relevant information and your personal message too. Pretty quick and easy! Do check it is the right app for their device.

Some ideas for apps:

X-Plane-9 Developer: Laminar Version: 9.54

$9.99 for iPad version which is the one in this review. They do have iPhone versions as well.

The video above (from about 2 minutes in) shows you how amazing this app is. It is a realistic flight simulator that takes into account the science bit that I totally don’t understand. The element break-down, velocity determination, coefficient determination and force build-up are the measurements that it is calculating, and even though I’m not quite sure how it all works (do check out their website for all the details) it makes for an unbelievable game. It is so realistic and it’s the first time I have really enjoyed this style of game – Dads will love it!

There are 3D buildings, airport terminals, instrument panels that are detailed and a huge choice of locations, terrain types, time of day choice, and of course all the different aircraft. The interface for choosing these options isn’t the best looking but all the features are there and once you get back into cockpit mode it is an amazing experience. There is also Traffic Control Radio chatter as you fly to add to the experience. you can also set auto pilot and look at the aircraft you are flying. Oh- and yes, you can even fly the space shuttle!

Trails Developer: Felix Lamouroux Version: 4.0

$3.99

Trails is designed for both iPhone and iPad and is a GPS app that allows you to record, import and export tracks onto your iPhone. You can record maps while hiking, on bike trips or while jogging. You can also import tracks and follow hikes of others. A great feature of the app is that maps are only loaded once, so you can see them later again without an internet connection. This really is a feature packed app and you should check out their site if this is something you are into. It has been recommended to me by many people as well so it seems to be one of the top choices.

One thing to note is that you do seem to need to keep the app running, though if your phone turns itself off it keep working. If you get a phone call though it cuts out and you do have to relaunch it. This should be a temporary thing though, as multitasking should be on our devices soon.

There is a lite version if you want to try it out first.

Weber’s on the Grill Developer:Weber Version: 2.0 USA Only

$4.99

This is a serious ‘man’ app. Any dad would be happy to get his hands on this. It’s not a recipe app, it’s not a cooking app, no – it’s a man’s grilling app! There are recipes for marinades, tips and tricks, you can tag your favourite recipes, you can time your cooking in the app and there is grilling times and guides for all types of meats and veggies.

RealRacingHD Developer: Firemint Version: 1.03 iPad App

$9.99

If you can’t afford to get your Dad the real thing then this game will be a real treat. The video below shows you what they can bring to the iPad and I hope this is the direction games developers take – it’s brilliant! Firemint are really making games that are changing the way we use our devices and I can’t wait to see what else they come up with.

The game has fantastic graphics and car skins which you can actually select from your photo album. There are 48 cars, in 4 classes, 12 tracks with 6 car grid lineup, there are 5 different game modes, Career, Quick Race, Time Trial, Online Leagues and Local Racing. Local multiplayer lets you play against 6 others using wifi or 2 with bluetooth. you do also need a copy of the game on each device, but they don’t all have to be on the iPad and can use a touch or iPhone.

My only slight criticism of the game is that quick play should be much quicker to start. I have been using this game to show people the ‘wow’ of the iPad and it does take a bit of time to get into the game after choosing the car and track etc. I’d luv if maybe it just went with your last chosen settings or something and then when you clicked quick play it just started in the game. Anyhow- Dads will love it!

What Father’s Day app list would be complete without a Beer app…

The Beer Bible Developer :Dorling Kindersley Version:1.0

$7.99

That’s right – this app has 1,700 beers and 800 worldwide breweries so there is enough here to keep you occupied for a while. you can search for beers, see the locations of the breweries of the beers with an integrated Google map, read tasting notes, bookmark your favorites and send them to friends using Facebook or email.

It’s the kind of app that you’d really have to like beer to get the most out of it, and I’m not sure if you;d prefer reading about them or just drinking them~