Too busy to type 140 characters? Blaving, a mobile app now in beta, turns your Nokia phone into a kind of social-media Dictaphone. Blaving and your phone record your short (two minutes or less) message, then transmit the sound file to the social network of your choice. You can also search for and listen to the short sound files of other people.

Blaving runs on Nokia S60 phones, both the newer touchscreen models and several older phones. I tested the app on a Nokia N8, an advanced touchscreen phone. So if you are using a non-touchscreen phone, where I say ‘tap’, you will instead need to press one of your phone’s keys.

Launch Blaving, and you view the app’s main screen:

The six icons across the top of the screen are your main navigators. The first icon, earphones, brings you to the latest posts. That’s the view shown above.

The second, a microphone, is where you record. Select the icon, and the main record screen appears:

Now it is the icons along the bottom that you use. To record a short message (in Blavspeak, a ‘blav’), select Record, which is the red dot, the first icon on the left. Then begin speaking. The screen counts down the seconds; above, you can see that I am 4 seconds into a recording.

To stop recording before Blaving’s 2-minute limit, select the Stop (middle) button. To hear your message before posting, select Play, the second icon from the right.

To post your blav, select Publish; it is the white arrow on a green background, all the way to the right. You will be prompted to give your post a title. You will also have the option to add tags, separated by commas. In the next shot, I am naming my test post ‘test’. Very creative, no?

It is easiest to post your blav within Blaving itself. But you can also share your audio posts on the web, via email, or on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Also, when you return to the latest posts screen, you will see your post listed on top (as mine is below):

You can also check out the Blaving voice posts of others by returning to the main screen and tapping the Popular button (little speaker, third from the right). You will come to a page that lists recent posts and shows the speakers’ thumbnails:

Options galore are available from Blaving’s popup menu, which you activate by tapping the Menu command at the bottom-right corner. As you can see below, some of the commands are similar to those in Twitter and other social networking apps: reply, like/dislike, etc.

You also have a few other options, including a way to set the app’s language; Blaving’s publisher, PMovil, is based in South America, so the options are English, Spanish, and Portuguese. In fact, most of the posts on Blaving I found were in Spanish.

Blaving also operates an accompanying website. I found using the site easier for certain changes. For example, adding a headshot photograph to your Blaving profile via the phone can be slow and tedious. But using the Blaving site, I was able to add my headshot easily and quickly.

Overall, Blaving works well and is easy to use. One exception is Favourites (indicated by the star icon); I was unable to make this work. Also, most of the commands are far too small for a touchscreen. That is especially true on the pop-up menu; because its 12 commands are so small and so close to one another, tapping the wrong command is quite easy, and I did so often. In this case, bigger would definitely be better.

To see Blaving in action, check out the app’s YouTube Channel page. Dozens of videos are on tap, mostly in either Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese. But there is one video in English showing Blaving on an older, non-touchscreen Nokia phone:

Blaving is available on Ovi Store, and it is free. The app requires an open Internet connection, so additional data charges may apply. Talk to you soon — on Blaving!

Who knew geometry could be so much fun? Well, actually I did, but I was one of those annoying geeks who liked geometry class in school. But you don’t have to be a geometry geek to have a blast with Slice-It! from Com2uS.

Slice-It! is compatible with Nokia smartphones with a touch interface, and costs $0.99 (USD) or equivalent in Ovi Store. The game I downloaded in the U.S. came pre-loaded with four language packs: English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. I play with it on my Nokia N8.

The game offers 100 challenges of increasingly difficult, and addicting, ways to slice geometric shapes.

I liked the graphic design (by Boyun “ADHD” Cho and Sangho “Anim” Bae ) and sound design by YoungJun “DrNoiz” Seo. Both brought me into the game. Inconsistent placement of the “back” button was a bit distracting, but the consistent look of the button compensated.

Possibly because of the multiple languages and multimedia content, the app takes up a lot of memory. Once I got past the opening screens and into a game level, screen capture utilities installed on my N8 failed because of low memory. That’s why the rest of the pics you see in this review were taken with an external camera. Power users who take advantage of Symbian’s multitasking may have trouble playing Slice-It! with several apps running in the background.

The concept of the puzzle/game is simple: draw straight lines to slice shapes into pieces. The developer did a great job of creating a technique for precise placement of lines using a touch interface:

• Drag your finger from the beginning to the end of the segment you want to draw.
• This creates a working slice line with adjustment handles on each end.
• Slide the end points around until you like where the line is drawn.
• When you stop adjusting the line, the game begins a count-down. If it gets to zero without a movement, you have Sliced It!

Draw lines to slice shapes. Sounds simple, right?

If you look closely at the screen above you see just about everything else you need to know about the game. The numbers in the top center tell you how many pieces you have and how many pieces you need to solve the current challenge. The number next to the pencil in the upper left tells you how many more lines you need to draw. The bottom of the screen tells you how many tips are available, and what you “pay” to get a tip.

If you can consistently slice treats into equal portions so your friends or children don’t argue about who gets which piece, you’ll do great with Slice-It!. Your score is based on your ability to make each slice the same area as every other slice. You’re shown the results after each puzzle.

Make each slice the same area and score big.

That’s all there is to the basic puzzle concept: draw a given number of lines to cut a given shape into the appropriate number of equal slices. The fun and the increasing challenge comes from different shapes that require different slicing strategies. Sometimes I found myself remembering old geometry formulas about intersects areas; sometimes I counted squares in the “graph paper” background, and sometimes I just winged it.

Slice-It! spices up the fun puzzle challenges with little goodies you win for scoring well, including  free tips.

Score well and win free tips to use when you get stuck.

This short video from theblogjack shows the game in action on the Nokia N8 – it goes out of focus once in a while, but you’ll get the idea:

There’s one flaw in the UI that I hope the developer cures in an upcoming release: there is no way to exit the game from within the game; you have to kill it from the task manager. You can Exit from a game, but that just takes you back to the main menu. There’s no final exit from there.

Slice-It! is a fun way to play with geometry, even if you don’t consider geometry fun. At $0.99, it would make a great gift for a child, just don’t let them know it’s educational!

Nokia devices are used around the world by millions of people, and are truly an integral part of ones life. Sports are watched and played by millions of people as well. The passion for your favorite football club, or your favorite baseball can also be a big part of ones life. To me, it seems like a direct correlation to make the an app that hits this huge, passionate demographic. Enter two new application recently published in Ovi Store: Scores Now! and SportsFeed. Both of these apps help you stay up to date and know the latest scores of your favorite sports teams.

Scores Now! is a powerful application created by infMobile that provides instant results from various teams in the:

• NBA (National Basketball Association)
• MLB (Major League Baseball)
• NFL (National Football League)
• NHL (National Hockey League)
• MLS (Major Leagues Soccer)

What's going on in the MLB today?

All scores are in real time and are updated every minute to ensure the most accurate data. You can even setup alarm/vibrate alerts when the score of your favorite games change. There is even the functionality to setup a calendar function to remind you of the time and date of when each game starts. If that’s not enough, you can also send your friends a text message with instant results from the games. So now you can rub it in all your friends faces’ when your team beats up on theirs!

My Favorites

Another cool feature in ScoresNow!, is the ability to see a condensed post-game wrap up. You can find out what the scoring plays were during that game as well as highscorers from the game.

Yankees Boxscore

Oh yeah, there’s also a homescreen widget too!

I am really loving ScoresNow! on my Nokia N8. I only have a few suggestions for future updates:

1. More detail in post-game wrap ups and boxscores
2. There should be more pre-game information
3. Modify homescreen widget cycle speed
4. More global content such as soccer outside of the U.S.

I think if the above modifications can be made, this would truly be the elite sports application on Ovi Store.

_______________________

SportsFeed is another sports score updater application created by Amnesia Games that provides information on:

• Soccer
• Tennis
• Basketball
• Hockey
• Baseball
• American Football

Main Menu

SportsFeed is more of a global application than SportsNow! For instance, when you choose soccer as your sport, rather than just getting results for the MLS, you have a list of all soccer matches globally in nearly every division and league. Same goes for baseball too:

Global Baseball Scores

So the selection of games is much broader in that sense. However, SportsFeed lacks a little in other areas. For instance, there is no feature to select a list of favorite teams, there is no additional pre-game or post-game information, and no homescreen widget either. Not deal breakers, but they would really add much more value to the game.

Then again both of these apps are free, so you really have nothing to lose.

Try them out if you are a true sports fan and it is an absolute must to stay up to date with your team!

ScoresNow! is available for FREE in Ovi Store, and can be downloaded here: http://store.ovi.com/content/102423

SportsFeed is also available for FREE in Ovi Store, and can be downloaded here: http://store.ovi.com/content/113865

Game on.

OK, I’m a chess expert, so it stands to reason that I should also be good at Chinese Chess, otherwise known as Xiang Qi, right? Uh, not really, at least not in the beginning. In fact, some of the strategies of pawn advancement that are common to western chess can be downright detrimental in Chinese Chess. For one thing, there is no promotion of a pawn when it gets to the extreme other side of the board as there is in western chess. Most of the pieces have somewhat different movements than their western counterparts, and there is even one piece that doesn’t exist in the western game.

All of that being said, Chinese Chess Pro V by ZingMagic brings this extremely popular eastern game to western eyes on the Nokia N8 as well as Symbian OS, S60 5.0 devices. ZingMagic has put the user interface in English (and 16 other languages), and even giving the option of viewing westernized pieces instead of Chinese characters.

Like ZingMagic’s western chess products, the app gives you the option of playing against the computer, or against another human. This is determined at the beginning of the game under Options. It brings up the screen below, where I have chosen for the second player to be another human instead of a computer. Note that I could have also chosen to play the opposite color (black moves first in Chinese Chess, the opposite of western chess.)

You may wish to build up some confidence in your play by running off a number of human-vs-computer games. Again the Options button allows you to choose the computer’s level of play, from Beginner to Expert, and the time controls, which can range from one second per move to games of 180 minutes.

The beginning position of the game is shown on the screen below. Notice that there are pieces that look like the rooks, knights, bishops  and kings found in western chess sets. Instead of a queen, each king is surrounded by two ministers whose icons vaguely resemble an elephant’s head. The pieces shown on the top row are, from the left, a rook, knight, counselor, minister, and king (general).  Two rows down from them are the cannons, a new type of piece, and in front of them the pawns (or foot soldiers).

The large X on each side of the board is the Imperial palace, and both the movements of both the king and his counselors are restricted to be within the palace. The rooks move just like western rooks, but the knights are not allowed to jump over pieces like their western counterparts. The counselors and ministers move diagonally like western bishops, with the restriction that a counselor may only move one point diagonally and the minister can move exactly two points diagonally.

The cannon moves horizontally and vertically like a rook, but it may only capture a piece by first jumping over an intervening piece of either color.

Whereas western pawns move only vertically, yet capture diagonally, the Chinese pawns have different rules. The Chinese pawn may only move a single point forward, and captures forward, not diagonally. Also, once a pawn has crossed the Yellow River in the middle of the board, it may then also move horizontally.

If you have any questions about the piece movement during a game, just click on the question mark icon after you have selected a piece. As the screen below shows, the app then gives you hints (the grey squares) as to where the selected piece can move on the board.

As with western chess, there are millions of strategy combinations in the game. One of the basic elements, king protection, is shown in the screen below. Notice in the screen below that a red minister and counselor have moved out in front of the king to protect him from the invading cannon.

YouTube also has a few good videos on how to play the game. Danny Burbol offers lessons that are split into two parts:

There is also a video showing sample gameplay with English subtitles at:

Chinese Chess Pro V is available in Ovi Store for $2.99 (USD). This version is available for Symbian OS, S60 5.0 devices such as the Nokia N97 and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, with a version for the Nokia’s new Symbian phones, like the Nokia N8 available soon at that same link. A free version (with advertising) for all of these devices is availablem, too.

Need some speed in your life? Moto X Mayhem or Moto X Mayhem Lite may be the games for you! Created by Occamy Games, Moto X Mayhem is full speed, jumps and lots of painful looking falls.

Guide the biker through several different islands, each one getting harder as the game progresses. Step on the gas, the brake, lean forward and lean back to manipulate the biker through the trails on each island. One false move and the biker may flip the bike or even fall off completely, resulting in bone breaking falls. But no worries, this is a game so his bones heal automatically and he’s back on the bike in two seconds!

There are three ways to play. First through touch and tilt. The left side of the screen can be tapped for the brakes while the right side of the screen can be touched for gas. Tilt the device right to lean forward and tilt left to lean back. The next way to play is analog. All touch, slide your finger up for gas and down for brake on the left side of the screen. Slide your finger up for a forward lean and down for a backwards lean on the right side of screen. And finally, you can use the digital option. Tap or hold the upper left part of the screen for gas and the lower left for the brakes, while tapping the upper right part of the screen to lean forward or the lower left of the screen to lean back.

Each way to play is similar to each other but after playing with all three I opted for the digital aspect. It was the easiest to control whereas the analog aspect was the hardest for me.

If you aren’t hooked yet then we have one more proposition for you, but why don’t we let this video from the publishers at Occamy Games do the talking for us:

If you feel lucky, and like some good competition, then snatch this game up fast. Starting today through 22 July, Moto X Mayhem is having a competition to see who can score the highest on each island! You can even get the chance to win twice by scoring the highest on two islands! Depending on which island you win, you can get a prize up to $5,000!

Please note: The Moto X Mayhem High-Score Challenge is for those playing the game on Nokia’s new Symbian phones, and is specifically for player in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, USA, and Canada. Players can register for the contest and submit highscores from within the game and compete for a chance to win cash prizes in each of the five islands it features. To enter, players must download the new versions from Ovi Store that have the contest registration and contest high-score entry  built-in. For more info, take a look at the Moto X Mayhem page on Facebook.

Moto X Mayhem is available for $0.99 (USD) in the Ovi Store. Moto X Mayhem Lite is available in the Ovi Store for free but only includes the first island of the game.

Want to get some wilderness into your life? WildEarth TV is a WRT (Web Runtime) widget that lets you watch live wildlife videos on your Nokia advanced touchscreen phone.

The widget works in collaboration with WildEarth, a broadcaster of live wildlife video channels, and ZooVision, a mobile video streaming content aggregator. Together, they have delivered a simple yet effective widget that lets you watch live videos of lions, sharks and other wildlife in their native environment — and while you are in your native environment, whether that is the office, a street in a foreign city, or even the comfort of your own home:

Your setup may vary, but at launch, I was presented with a choice of five live channels, of which four actually worked (more on the outlier below). These options were: African Safari, Waterhole Cam, Penguin Points, Pennsylvania Woods, and Swim With the Sharks. Here’s a look at how the channels are presented.

To scroll through the channels, you drag a finger across the screen to the left or right, depending on which way you want to scroll. To watch a video, simply tap on the Play icon. This launches your device’s web browser and automatically connects you to the live video feed, which begins playing.

In my tests on a Nokia N8, establishing the connection took about 10 to 20 seconds. But once I was connected, video play was clear, unbroken and smooth. The audio component – sometimes just ambient sounds, other times a person speaking in the background – was also loud and clear.

Here’s a look at the Swim With the Sharks channel, in which a camera records a group of sharks swimming hungrily around some bait that has been lowered from a boat:

During any of the live videos, tapping the screen causes familiar commands to appear on the screen. These let you pause and restart the video, adjust the audio volume, and return to the main menu:

Unfortunately, not all the channels were as exciting. The Penguin Point, for example, was decidedly dull whenever I tuned in. As the screenshot below illustrates, it is a view of some artificial rocks and a pool in an aquarium somewhere. If you squint, you can see two penguins on the left side of the image. They are standing around, doing pretty much nothing:

I will guess that the penguins get more exciting at feeding time, but I was never able to catch that moment. The African Safari was more rewarding; there, I watched a female lion sniffing around for dinner. But the Waterhole Cam, sadly, was not much more than a view of a pond somewhere in Africa, at least whenever I tuned in. And the Pennsylvania Woods was simply missing in action:

Those quirks aside, WildEarth TV is a reliable and easy-to-use widget for live video feeds of wildlife around the world.

WildEarth TV is available on Ovi Store for $4.99 (USD). It runs on Nokia advanced touchscreen devices. And it requires an open Internet connection, so local data charges may apply. I tested WildEarth TV over a wireless LAN, and I recommend that option for lower costs and higher speeds. Try WildEarth TV – it’s wild.

Got serious time to kill? Azkend is one puzzle game for Nokia advanced smartphones that can keep you busy for hours. I played Azkend for several half-hour sessions, yet was able to complete only about half the available levels. Fortunately, Azkend lets you quit the game and save your progress. So at a more convenient moment, you can return where you left off.

Azkend has a back story of sorts, something about an explorer returning to the Far East in search of relics and talismans. Whatever. The game’s the thing here.

Azkend presents you with a series of boards (called levels) that are populated with little icons. Your objective is to touch and slide the screen to link three or more adjacent icons of the same pattern – Buddhas, boats, etc. In this first screenshot, note the blue arrow near the bottom of the board pointing at a water pitcher…and also note that there are three other water pitchers that could be connected to this one:

Each time you connect three or more icons on the board, they disappear. All the other icons plop down one level, and new icons appear at the top. Also, the cells of the matched icons turn from yellow to blue. Here’s a look at a game in progress:

Turn the entire board blue by matching enough icons, and a piece of a talisman appears on your board. Lower the talisman to the bottom of the board by making matches, and you win the level. In this next screenshot, you can see the talisman in the lower left corner, with one piece in place:

When you complete a talisman, it is added to your arsenal. The talisman appears on the board of your next level. And when you match up four or more talismans, they have the power to clear large areas of the board.

Also, as you move into higher levels, the game gets more difficult. In part, that is due to the addition of special icons with unique qualities. This rules screen illustrates:

If all that were not enough, you also have to worry about your Thunder Meter. You have a small bank of lightning bolts at the bottom of the screen. When you connect icons in the yellow cells, you add a lightning bolt. But connect icons only in blue cells, and you lose a bolt. In the screenshot below, you can see that I have accumulated four out of a possible five lightning bolts – pretty good!

Between levels, Azkend shows you your progress on a long journey. Even after five levels, I still have a l-o-n-g way to go:

Testing Azkend on a Nokia N8, I did encounter one fairly serious technical glitch. In several sessions, the game first lost its sound, then froze and became totally unresponsive. In fact, I could unfreeze the game only by rebooting my Nokia device. Fortunately, the game was smart enough to save my progress. Once I restarted the device and relaunched the game, I could continue playing where I had left off. Here’s hoping publisher 10tons Ltd. will address this technical issue in v.2 of what is otherwise a fun and engaging puzzle game.

To get an idea of Azkend’s look and feel, check out this YouTube video, courtesy of publisher 10tons Ltd.

The Azkend puzzle game is available on Ovi Store for $2.99 (USD). The installation file for this Qt-based application is rather large at more than 15 MB, so it is best to install this game in your mass, rather than phone, memory. Then get ready for the minutes — and hours — to fly.