Fast & Furious 6 is now racing into theaters with brand new over the top car stunt action. There’s an iOS game to go along with the movie, and it’s all about street drag racing. Fast & Furious 6: The Game is awfully familiar as it’s set-up as nearly a carbon copy of CSR Racing, and that’s despite the fact that it comes from a different developer. If you’re familiar with CSR Racing, then you know it’s not a good thing to have another game like it. In the FF6 game, the races are tied subtly to the movie storyline as you’re racing in London, and there are specific challenges from the crew members.

Each race is relatively the same, and familiar as you time your start to get the perfect launch, and then swipe to shift gears just before your RPM meter reaches the red zone. That is all you do in the drag races in an attempt to beat your opponent, and it’s just what you do in CSR Racing. There’s a new mode in FF6 that introduces drifting to separate races for a somewhat unique challenge. Drifting couldn’t be easier though as you simply press and hold the drift button when entering a drift zone, and release once you exit that zone. That’s the only nuance in the whole game, and everything is overly simplistic to the point that the game tells you when to get ready to shift, and slows down to highlight that a drift zone is coming up. To make matters worse, each race seems to be more dependent upon the car, than the skill of the driver.

The game is absolutely packed with content with a story mode spanning five sectors on the map with each sector offering nine story missions, drag and drift ladder competitions, daily challenges, and harder drag and drift challenges. The only problem is that every race is exactly the same, and there’s just a whole lot of repetition that really just involves timing your taps. Since the game is like CSR: Racing, there’s a deluxe freemium model at work, and that’s in addition to the game being an ad itself. There are tons of unlockable and upgradeable cars, but the most insulting aspect is the gas tank. You can only race five times before your gas tank depletes, and then you have to wait for it to recharge, or spend to fill it up immediately. There are two in-game currencies with coins and gold, and the gas tank of course requires the harder to come by gold. Underneath it all there’s some fast paced drag racing, but it is overly simplistic, and uninviting on a long term basis due to the restrictive monetization on top of being an ad for the movie.

Fast & Furious 6: The Game (Free, Universal) is a bland and basic movie tie-in that couldn’t be more simplistic and restrictive.

Smule makes some of the most innovative apps around all providing deluxe musical instruments in a touch friendly package whether it’s Magic Piano, Ocraina 2, AutoRap, and more. Each one of their apps offers so much authentic power, and yet they’re accessible to anyone. Guitar! by Smule is their latest effort, and it transforms your iOS device into a guitar (which they have tried before) complete with five strings to strum and pick. You hold your device in landscape, and follow the notes that flow across the screen with lines indicating a strum, and circle pointing to a pick. It’s completely effortless to play, and the medium and hard difficulties add in chords with three color coded buttons to press while strumming and picking.

The sound is as authentic as you can expect from a digital guitar, and it’s so neat to have a swipe of your finger across multiple strings provide such a realistic sound. There are a few subtleties as well which lets you do a bit of vibrato, emphasis, and pitch by shaking your device, or strumming faster or slower. At launch, there are ten songs to unlock and play with each performance helping you earn credits to unlock other songs. Surprisingly, there aren’t in-app purchases to unlock songs quicker. There are also electric and rock guitars to unlock in the same way, and each one also ties into a freestyle mode where you can jam out to whatever you can.

It’s simply enjoyable to play the guitar, and Smule has added a unique twist to the app by incorporating their Sing! Karaoke app. Each of the ten songs is paired with a recording by specific Sing Karaoke users allowing you to play along to their voice. The main problem is that the amateurs are mostly out of pitch, annoying, and they overpower the sound of the guitar. Also, there’s no option to play the guitar alongside the official vocals of each song, and instead you have to hear amateurs as you play. The worst part is that they’re random amateurs, as the app would be greatly improved if you could connect with your friends. It would be so much better to play the guitar alongside your friend’s vocals, or sing yourself so friends could play along to your recording. Even if they’re not the best singers, at least they’re people you know, as the current set-up makes each song last forever. Magic Piano does a good job of giving smaller versions well known songs, but in Guitar you have to grind through what feels like forever.

Guitar! by Smule (Free, Universal) has so much potential, but it’s completely untapped with just ten songs, and no connections to friend recordings from the Sing Karaoke app making it one to skip in its current state. It’s worth noting that the interface to play the guitar is far improved over Magic Guitar, but the limited Sing integration drags down the whole app.

Welcome to the daily Apple rumors starting off with more on what to potentially expect in iOS 7. 9to5Mac shares more claims on the redesign of iOS 7 headed by Jony Ive, and that main idea is that the entirety of iOS will be influenced by the new design style. The focus of the changes will be an emphasis on black and white design elements. Heavy textures will be no longer, and changes will be throughout without changing what iOS is known for. In terms of specific examples, the yellow notepad has been replaced with a flat white design. Each stock app is set to have a white base with a specific color scheme, so for instance messages would have green accents and controls, while calendar could be infused with red. The changes could also include panorama home screen wallpapers that pan as you swipe through screens, animated weather conditions, and FaceTime being a separate app once again.

WWDC is fast approaching with Apple’s keynote slated for Monday June 10th, where iOS 7 is expected to take center stage.

The low cost iPhone is also churning in the rumor mill with Macotakara providing new details. The low cost iPhone is set to have a polycarbonate shell that will be infused with various colors including navy, gold orange, white, and gray, while a second source provided white, pink, green, blue, and yellow-orange as the potential colors. Black was not mentioned by either source, and the main point is that test production will begin in June with wide production in July for a September launch. They also have a small claim about the iPhone 5S that it will have a dual LED flash set in a pill shape. Also extra colors may come to the 5S, like gold and green.

Both new iPhones are filling enough rumors that they’re expected in the fall, and they’re set to have a completely redesigned operating system.

Today’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch apps for free daily include a collection of games, intelligent alarm, frantic matching game, and endless driving game. A number of apps drop from paid to free on a daily basis, and we pick the top four everyday, as many of the others aren’t worth your time even for free. Everyday we try to pick apps that are worth spending money on, but are now free to download, and here they are.

W.E.L.D.E.R. ($2.99 -> Free, Universal) [Review]: A word game that combines crosswords and matching for a new game style. You’re given an 8 x 8 grid full of letter tiles, and you need to swap tiles to create words. As you advance you discover special tiles including bonuses, flames, and stones all with unique attributes. The main challenge is that you have a limited number of swaps available, and when you run out of swaps, it’s game over.

Ayopa is selling all of their games for free this Memorial day weekend.
Chicken Rescue ($0.99 -> Free, Universal) [Review]
Light Byte ($0.99 -> Free, Universal) [Review]
Pocket Heroes ($0.99, iPhone) [Review]
M.U.S.E. ($2.99 -> Free, Universal) [Review]
Death Golf ($0.99 -> Free, Universal)
Dungeon Crawlers ($0.99 -> Free, Universal)

Smart Alarm Clock ($0.99 -> Free): The app monitors your sleep phases to determine the best time to wake you up, so that you start your day refreshed. There are also tracks to fall asleep, and wake up to. The app even records your sleep at night to track snoring, or other night time disturbances.
Smart Alarm Clock ($0.99 -> Free): The iPad version.

Push Panic ($1.99 -> Free, Universal) [Review]: Get ready for some frantic tapping action with Push Panic. The game features four different game mode with classic level based action, as well as time, score, and color constraints. Each game begins with colored blocks falling in, and you tap on same colored blocks to build up your multiplier. There are huge combos available with the multipliers and color linkers, and there’s never a slow down in the action.

Redline Rush ($0.99 -> Free, Universal) [Review]: A fast paced driving game that is set-up like an arcade racer, but is actually an endless game. You dodge traffic to avoid the cops with two unlockable environments, and multiple collectible cars. There are deluxe 3D graphics, and crash animations as well.

There are so many endless games, and yet there’s still room for new ideas, and that’s exactly what Dead Ahead provides. It’s an endless driving game where zombies are chasing you, and you need to survive in any way possible. There are obstacles ahead of you, and zombies behind, which means you can lure the zombies into the obstacles to take them down. You also have a gun to blast zombies that get too close to your tail. It’s an action packed twist that delivers an overload of blood with multiple objectives to balance in each run. It all combines together in our ‘N Action gameplay video.

Dead Ahead (Free, Universal)

Tetris has withstood the test of time, and it’s still a highly enjoyable arcade puzzle game that has seen so many variations over the years. Today, EA released Tetris Blitz which delivers a fast paced two minute variation along the lines of Bejeweled Blitz. The one touch control mode from EA’s other iOS Tetris game is a key component of Tetris Blitz. You’re given three potential spots to place the next block, and you simply tap to get it into place, and move on to the next one. It’s a fast paced rush to score as much as you can, and there’s also a special frenzy mode activated as you complete consecutive lines. Power-ups are a key aspect of the game to amp up your score, and it all adds up to such a speedy variation of the classic that you can see ‘N Action in our gameplay video.

Tetris Blitz (Free, Universal)

Evernote is the king of note taking apps that has completely transformed since it launched for the iPhone back in 2008. Tons of updates later, version 5.3 launched today with a long awaited, and often requested feature, reminders. Now, you can be reminded about any of your notes, and that changes the entire usability of Evernote. On an individual note, you simply tap the alarm clock to add it to your reminders list, and then you can set a due date to receive notifications.

The best part of the reminder implementation is that reminders notes are pinned to the top of your note list so that they’re always the first thing you see. Once you have a few items in your reminders list, you can sort, mark as complete, and fine tune due dates. There’s also the ability to swipe across a note to mark it as complete, or change the date/time of the reminder. It’s such a valuable feature, as now you don’t need a separate reminders app that you end up filling out notes with. Evernote lets you simply be reminded about the deluxe notes you already can capture, that includes photos, audio, web clips, stylized text, and locations. Finally, Evernote can help you get things done, and not just be a storage place.

Evernote (Free, Universal / Free, Mac) reminders are an app changing functionality, that is one of the most valuable updates to any app.

Hyper Breaker Turbo is a brand new brick breaker that provides a new take on the genre with multi-screen levels. Rather than destroying a single set of blocks on screen, your goal is to keep breaking through blocks to move upwards to the finish line. You don’t even need to break each block, but there’s a lot of help to do so with power-ups that rain down. There are 75 levels split between three different themes with classic, doodle, and neon styles. The game comes from the makers of Push Panic, which packed action into the classic matching game, and Hyper Breaker Turbo offers a same twist, but on a different classic format. Here’s Hyper Breaker Turbo ‘N Action gameplay video.

Hyper Breaker Turbo ($1.99, Universal)

Shazam was one of the launch titles of the App Store back in 2008, and has been updated so many times over the years. It has all lead to version 6.0, which was just released today with valuable new features. First off, there’s a brand new iPad layout that includes a scrollable album view at the top of the screen with your previous tags, and below that sits real time listings of top tracks or top TV shows. It’s a dynamic home screen that is based on real time data of what other Shazam users are tagging.

The other new features are iPad only at the moment, but will be coming to the iPhone soon. There’s now auto tagging which lets Shazam continuously run to keep tagging music and media around you. This is extremely valuable so that you don’t have to constantly press the Shazam button when you think of something to identify. The auto tagging also works in the background, so you can use other apps, and Shazam will still identify new songs and TV shows. Speaking of TV shows, Shazam has slowly become an interactive second screen for TV viewing, so once shows are identified you have access to all the tracks during that episode as well as connections to related Wikipedia, IMDb, website, and store pages. If that wasn’t enough, there’s an all new map view which lets you zoom in on your current location to see what’s popular in your area, or anywhere across the globe.

Shazam (Free, Universal) has become the de facto music identifier for music and TV shows that has been greatly enhanced for the iPad in version 6.0.

In Combo Crew, you’re locked in a tower, and the only way out is to beat down everyone that stands in your way. The game comes from the makers of Squids, and is based on brawler classics like Streets of Rage, Final Fight, and Street Fighter. The major difference is that the developers didn’t just shoehorn in virtual controls, and instead came up with a whole new control style revolving around gestures. You can swipe on an enemy to attack, tap anywhere to perform a counter attack, or swipe with two fingers for deluxe combo attacks. There’s a lengthy campaign as well as an endless mode, and the entire time you’re trying to build up insane combos. You can see it all ‘N Action in our gameplay video below.

Combo Crew ($1.99, Universal)

Mailbox took the iPhone by storm in February with a brand new way to interact with your email inbox. Today, that brilliant app has finally come to the iPad with the same style, but optimized for the larger screen. Mailbox is just so effortless to use with a gesture driven interface allowing you to swipe across messages to assign them to different locations. You can archive, delete, snooze, or add to lists all from swiping left and right as either short or long swipes. The snooze functionality is one of the most powerful functions of the app, allowing you to be reminded about a message later on with multiple choices for when. Everything you do in the app is about getting your inbox to zero, but there are other valuable features as well including chain conversation view, push notifications, and great speed of new emails

All of the functionality is now on the iPad, and the overall interface delivers the familiar e-mail list in the left hand column, and large message view on the right side of the screen. The bigger screen allows for the swipe gestures to be even smoother, as each individual message is bigger, which especially helps for the two degrees of swipes in a particular direction. The menu is also easily accessible, and can sit next to your e-mail list as you view the different folders of your inbox. The developers have done a great job of translating Mailbox to the bigger screen, and now you can finally have Mailbox be your sole e-mail client across iOS devices, as long as you use Gmail. One of the most amusing aspects is that as soon as I tap on a message I’m so used to swiping or tapping to go back, and now that message just appears on the right side of the screen. Mailbox has gone through a lot since February including acquisition by Dropbox, multiple updates, dropping the reservation system, and now the iPad version.

Mailbox (Free, Universal) fits so well on the iPad, and if you use Gmail, there’s no better way to interact with your inbox on iOS.

Today’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch apps for free daily include a well known physics puzzler, website listing app, bird spotter guide, and arcade golfing game. A number of apps drop from paid to free on a daily basis, and we pick the top four everyday, as many of the others aren’t worth your time even for free. Everyday we try to pick apps that are worth spending money on, but are now free to download, and here they are.

Angry Birds Space ($0.99 -> Free, iPhone) [Review]: The classic App Store physics puzzler launched into space in 2012 infused with all new space physics revolving around varying gravitational pull. The game was updated numerous times since launch with new levels as usual for Rovio, and the Space version is the breath of fresh air that the series needed.
Angry Birds Space HD ($2.99 -> Free, iPad)

Craigslist ($0.99 -> Free, Universal): The app transforms Craigslist listings into a newspaper classified section complete with intuitive menus, filters, and personalization options. You can circle items of interest, view the smart search for specific items based on location, and reply to an ad right within the app.

Peterson Birds Pocket Edition – A Field Guide to Birds of North America ($0.99 -> Free, Universal): A bird spotter app that offers details on more than 800 species of North American birds, with illustrations, range maps, and information from the best selling book of the same name. There’s also bird songs, quick search options, and the ability to compare similar looking birds on the same screen.

Golf Squared ($0.99 -> Free, Universal): An arcade style golf game reminiscent of Super Stickman Golf, but with relatively realistic courses. There are cubed based graphics to depict the greens, bunkers, water hazards, and more through finely crafted hole layouts for plenty of challenge.

Other things come up all the time, and yet the App Store slows down for no one. With that in mind, there’s a brand new slate of games that just became available as it’s Wednesday night once again. This week is highlighted by a gesture driven brawler, new style brick breaker, TellTale powered poker game, and much more.

If you’re new, every Thursday Apple updates the featured apps in the App Store and developers release their apps on Thursday for a better chance of being featured. They start appearing on Wednesday evening at 8PM local time all around the world beginning in New Zealand.

Combo Crew ($1.99, Universal): A gesture driven brawler from the makers of Squids, which amps up the combos with multi-finger swipes for an action attack.

Hyper Breaker Turbo ($1.99, Universal): A brand new brick breaker that provides extensive levels, all kinds of variety, and a unique overall style.

Poker Night 2 ($4.99, Universal) : TellTale has a surprise release this week with a very lively poker game infused with characters from all sorts of games.

Go Round (Free, Universal): Little White Bear Studios is a great name for puzzles games, and this is their latest.

Finger Tied Jr. ($0.99, iPhone): An all new iPhone version of a great multi-tocuh iPad puzzle game with all new puzzles made for the smaller screen.

Zombie Fish Tank ($0.99, Universal): It’s a bit like Osmos, but in a fish tank as you eat smaller fish to grow bigger in an attempt to eat larger fish.

Dead Ahead (Free, Universal): An endless driving game where you pilot a moped through waves of zombies swerving, plowing through, and just plain shooting as you go.

Men’s Room Mayhem ($0.99, Universal): A path drawing game set in a bathroom, that is a whole lot like Urinals.

Epic (Free, Universal): A movie tie-in freemium time management game from Gameloft.

Jane Wilde (Free, Universal)

Quell Memento ($2.99, Universal)

Pirates vs Corsairs: Davy Jones’ Gold ($2.99, Universal)

The iPhone camera is such a capable filming device, and it can get even better, thanks to the plethora of software enhancements in the App Store. Video Filters is a brand new video effects app that may be the most deluxe video app around with the detailed feature set from i4 Software. First off, Video Filters includes 100 real time video filters to apply to your videos, and you can see how they will look in real time with gradients, vintage, polarizers, sepia, sketches, and more categories. You can also apply those filters to existing camera roll footage, and there just are so many choices.

Though the app is titled Video Filters, that doesn’t come close to telling the whole story of what’s included to enhance your iPhone’s video camera. There are professional manual controls that support 24-30 frames per second, various aspect ratios, and different video resolutions that can all be changed effortlessly. The app also offers a digital zoom slider, option to capture photos while recording, and provide video stabilization while recording. All of these features are just on the surface of the app available through buttons, and there’s even more depth accessible through tap and swipe gestures.

One odd omission is a tutorial on how to access the additional features, and we discovered them through the demo video by i4 Software (included below). They have becomes second nature, but they’re not obvious to begin with. You can tap to refocus like usual, but a double tap locks in exposure and focus, while a triple tap provides manual targets for focus, exposure, and white balance. There’s also the ability to tap, hold, and then swipe to bring up brightness, contrast, saturation, and gamma controls that you can change by sliding your finger horizontally. If that wasn’t enough, swipes are used for filters too, allowing you to swipe with two fingers to quickly cycle through filters right on the camera screen. One of the most powerful features of the app is the ability to pause a recording, shift perspective, and then resume recording right on the same clip.

There are just so many features included, and they all work together to help you capture video on your iOS device like a pro. It’s a $4 app, and yet you’re given functionality of professional cameras that cost hundreds of dollars. After filming, you can change the speed of certain parts of your clips for fast or slow motion at multiple levels of precision. When you first dive into the app, it doesn’t seem like there’s that much, but once you uncover all of the extra features it can be a bit overwhelming. You could potentially be caught up in all of the different options, and miss out on what you wanted to film. As I was reviewing the app, I was stockpiling cons like usual, and slowly but surely found a response to almost every one of them through the buried features. The video filters are the main aspect, and at first it seemed a hassle to go through 100 of them with tiny previews, but then there’s the choice to adjust the thumbnail size, and a two finger swipe to quickly switch between them. There’s just so much to dive into, and although some features are hidden, it’s great to discover and interact with them all.

Video Filters ($3.99, Universal) is one of the most deluxe camera apps you can get for your iOS device that delivers all of the features in such an accessible package making it a should buy.

Games are becoming more advanced everyday, and yet some are abandoning simplicity for the sake of all these new features. Not Dots: A Game About Connecting, which is as simple and straightforward as can be. It’s a classic matching game where you simply drag a line over same colored dots to clear them from the board. It’s akin to a watered down version of Bejeweled that cuts away all of the clutter to just focus on matching. Each game is a 60 second rush with a six by six board, and five potential colors on screen. There are no multiple modes, objectives, achievements, or anything other than the same 60 second game every time.

The app also features a super flat and clean design with just a white background, and 2D colored dots on screen. As you make longer chains, and the edges of the screen light with the color you’re matching, and that’s the only design nuance of the game. It’s one of the simplest games in the App Store, and yet it has an alluring charm in its simplicity. Its perfect for quick pick up and play, but you can’t help but notice the shallowness, and repetitive nature of the game. The main problem is that the board is filled with matches of two that waste more time than actually benefit your score, and the score is all that matters in such a shallow game.

After you play a couple of rounds, you realize that the only way to better your score is through power-ups. The problem is that the power-ups cost dots, and you will almost have to purchase in-app purchases to have enough dots to afford the consumable power-ups. The power-ups implementation is a lot like that of Candy Crush Saga, but even more obligatory since the game is the same every time with only power-ups distinguishing scores. The game shines on your device with silky smooth touch controls, but there’s just nothing to it. The game is good for about 180 seconds, but then there’s no reason to ever think about it again.

Dots: A Game About Connecting (Free, iPhone) is an ornate expression of minimalism that is just too simplistic to recommend.