50 in 1 : APPZILLA – The Swiss Army Knife of iPhone Apps. Great value!

50 in 1 : APPZILLA [rating: 4.5/5]

When I first fired up APPZILLA I was a little overwhelmed! There are a full two and a half screens full of just about every mini-app and widget (both useful and fun) I could think of that I might want to have on my iPhone or iPod. That’s 50 individual apps all individually launch-able and managed from a simple springboard interface! Just to give you a very small taste of what’s in APPZILLA there are some obvious apps like a clock, currency converter, flashlight, tip calculator and a unit convertor. There are also some more esoteric things like a voodoo doll simulator, strobe light, and a massager! So now you know what the name, “50 in 1 : APPZILLA” is all about!

As the amount of apps we end up keeping on our devices grows it seems sensible to try and consolidate them into one space. This is one of the initial appeals of APPZILLA, once you know what it is all about. You can click one place on your iPod or iPhone’s main screen and be presented with a nicely presented alternative springboard with pleasing and descriptive icons for a myriad of apps you might use in various situations in any one day.

50 in 1 appzillaReal world story: A week ago I dropped a bottle in our underground car park behind the wheel of my car. I wanted to clean the glass up so I or anyone else didn’t drive over it. It took me a few moments to find a blank white display in a notepad on my iPhone to give me some light to scan around the dark floor area behind my car and pick up glass shards. APPZILLA has a “Book Lamp” and a “Flashlight” on it’s front page. I’d have paid $0.99 for either of those there and then. And I’d still have had 49 other apps for free!

Another story : Two weeks ago I was putting a shelf up at home and couldn’t find my spirit level. My wife “put it away” somewhere. You know how it goes! APPZILLA has one of those too. In fact it has two of those. A “Level” app which is like a spirit level, and a “Clinometer” which is even more funky and works in two dimensions at once.

In the last two paragraphs I’ve touched on 4 apps in APPZILLA. We still have another 46 to go. You’re getting the idea, I hope.

In an App Store where there are literally thousands of little apps for a dollar each which do one or other thing, this is a great deal. What’s more the presentation is neat, clean and easy to follow, if a little light hearted. Once in each app the graphics and animations are smooth and detailed. This carries throughout each mini-app. I could understand if a developer decided to skimp on presentation here or there when cramming this many apps into one package. But these guys haven’t at all. Everything is pleasing to look at, if a tad quirky sometimes.

The simplest way to let you know what’s in APPZILLA is to list everything it contains. So I’ve included a list underneath the main review. The names are pretty much self explanatory in most cases. The ones that are not are entertaining to explore!

50 in 1 appzilla_3You could take some of these mini-apps individually and sell them for a dollar on the app store. Some developers already have done so. And in some cases have not done as nice a job for even that one app as Fossil Software have with each of the 50 in APPZILLA. You could even bunch 3 or 4 of these mini-apps together at this price, and it would be a bargain. You would’t even need to provide instructions for them as they are all pretty simple to use in most cases. But the guys who made APPZILLA included instructions anyway. They also included a way to organise the apps into the order you use them most frequently. A really nice touch. Especially considering just how many apps there are!

The interface, icons, layout and functionality of this app all “just work”, with the only exception being that the camera related apps were a bit quirky on the devices I tested them on. I did manage to get them to work though. But hey, 48 out of 50 pretty flawless mini-apps is not bad for a dollar – which is the price right now! I believe it is $1.99 at other times. Either way a bargain in my opinion.

For me personally, apart from the apps I’ve already mentioned, I can certainly see myself using the “Coin Flip” which flips a virtual coin on the screen, or the “Buzzer” which kind of makes your iPod into a game show button, or even the “Voodoo” app which allows you to stick pins in a rag doll. I’d use those at parties or with friends.

I could also see myself letting my nieces and nephews use the “Glow Paint” (a Day-Glo finger painting app) or “Sound Box” (a fun sound effects app). I might even use the last one to play tricks on some adult friends. Oh and of course the “Trip Wire” app which is a kind of sound activated alarm, with a sensitivity setting, could be a lot of fun too.

I am not letting my wife know about the “Cook Timer” as she already steals my iPod too often as it is But I might use it myself to get boiled eggs perfect!

50 in 1 appzilla_4More serious apps are included, like a “Metronome” for you musos, and a “Hot Topics” widget which gets popular news feeds from the internet. Plus a “Ruler” and a “Protractor”. Yep, they do what they say.

Did I mention that there’s an app to translate between pretty much every language I am aware of? It does need an internet connection though, as do most of the conversion apps that rely on real world data.

I could go on The “Morse Code” app I will be keeping handy for any war movies I watch so I can see if the subtitles match up to the signals.

I heartily recommend 50 in 1 : APPZILLA

The Good

  • Just about every widget you could need on your iPod or iPhone.
  • It even has instructions for each mini-app.
  • Fun presentation, nice graphics in each mini-app and for app icons.

The Not So Good

  • App is a little hard to take seriously as it’s presented as a novelty item, when it actually has quite a lot of seriously useful mini-apps.
  • Camera functions are a little unstable.

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List of all APPZILLA apps:

– 50,000 Famous Quotes
– Twitter/Facebook tools
– Currency Translator
– Language Translator
– Touch Anywhere Camera
– Timer Camera
– Whiteboard
– Dictionary
– Digital Clock
– Trip Wire
– Unit Converter
– Voodoo Doll
– Sleep Sounds Generator
– Glow Paint
– Battery Life
– Book Lamp
– Tip Calculator
– Game Buzzer
– Clinometer
– Bubble Level
– Plumb Bob
– Protractor
– Ruler
– Price Compare
– Hot Topics
– Coin Flip
– Cook Timer
– Crystal Ball
– Tesla Meter
– Decibel Meter
– Advanced Random Number Generator
– Sale Price Calculator
– System Info
– Flashlight
– Music Box
– Grill Timer
– Homeland Security
– Concert Lighter
– Moon Phase Calculator
– Morse Code Flasher
– Password Generator
– Massager
– Color Picker
– Metronome
– Pitch Pipe
– Sound Box
– Strobe Light
– Tally Tracker
– Dice Roller
– Location Tool
– Fake Call

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store Preview)
Released: Mar 11, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0
Size: 31.2 MB
Languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian
Seller: Fossil Software LLC
© 2010 Fossil Software, LLC
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 3.1.2 or later.

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