Amazon App Store Thread - Daily Free Apps

[RobertB-DC]

Today's FAOTD is "Trigonometrics", which infringes on intellectual property rights by advertising itself as "Create Your Own SPIROGRAPH". It doesn't have any bad permissions, but I love this review:

"I think that this app was created in about 30 minutes after guzzling a six pack of beer. It acts like a 'graphics demo' that you might find on an Apple ][ system demo disc."

Hey, I was blown away by those Apple ][ system demos. Did you ever hear the one that made it play "Stairway to Heaven" in two-part harmony? Man, that was gnarly to the max.

 

[dibblebill]

I tried the app and trashed it. It barely lets you create your own spirographs.

 

[jbenham]

Hence the 2 1/2 star rating.

 

[jaybo1973]

Sudoku again today but judging by the reviews, it looks like a pretty decent one.

 

[jbenham]

Did you read any of the 1 star reviews. Someone gave it a 1 and said they never even installed it!

 

[RobertB-DC]

We might have another winner today with "Piano Companion", which describes itself as "a flexible chord/scale dictionary with user libraries and reverse mode". If you know what a Circle of Fifths is (hint: it doesn't involve Jack Daniels), this sounds like a useful app.

It has almost universally top reviews (which look legit), and has *no* permissions. Like, none at all (unless I'm missing something in the new interface). Normally $4 bucks - though the dev has a free version too, if you found this post a day late.

 

[jbenham]

That was one where I figured you either understood what they were talking about or you would be confused. Like that fancy calculator they offered not too long ago. Really good deal for those that can use them.

 

[RobertB-DC]

Today's game is "Sand Slides", which keeps getting compared to previous FAOTD "Sugar, Sugar". You direct the flow of sand by drawing on the screen. I've been known to play the Dan-Ball powder "game" for hours at a time, so I think I'll grab this one. It "only" has Internet permission, which is about as good as you can hope for these days.

Edit: never mind, it's 40MB. Apparently, it has pretty backgrounds. :/

 

[jbenham]

Too bad, it looked like a fun game.

Today's FAOTD, A Bards Tale, has In-App Purchases and uses a minimum of 1.7 GB!

 

[dibblebill]

Too bad, it looked like a fun game.

Today's FAOTD, A Bards Tale, has In-App Purchases and uses a minimum of 1.7 GB!

A Bards Tale is a wonderful game, that being said.

 

[jbenham]

That's a lot of GB for a tablet.

 

[dibblebill]

True, but I've got it on the 8GB Ouya, and it's more than worth it.

 

[jbenham]

That makes sense, but I only have 1 tablet.

 

[lucky 13]

A few free apps today, monopoly, sketchbook pro, runtastic, worms 2: armagedon, swype keyboard, fruit ninja puss in boots, Dr Panda's airport, polaris office, mSecure password manager, ski safari adventure and print hand mobile print app

 

[RobertB-DC]

A few free apps today, monopoly, sketchbook pro, runtastic, worms 2: armagedon, swype keyboard, fruit ninja puss in boots, Dr Panda's airport, polaris office, mSecure password manager, ski safari adventure and print hand mobile print app

Well, there are plenty of free apps every day. But *this* thread isn't about what *we* decide is our favorite free app today... it's about the "Free App Of The Day" on Amazon's Appstore. It's an app that normally costs, that Amazon is offering for free for the day.

For example, today is something called "Toca Lab", which is normally $2.99 but is free today, thanks to Amazon's largesse. It lets you virtually "sample" and test all 118 known chemical elements - even the highly radioactive ones that only exist for a fraction of a fraction of a second. It's aimed at the tween set, which is perfect - that's how old I was when I memorized the Periodic Table. (Of course, we only had up through 103 when I was in 6th grade... it's kinda like Pokemon, only slower. Gotta catch 'em all!)

Not too many permissions to whine about, mostly network-related. (The reason we whine about permissions is because it's a pain in the behind when an app you paid for runs ads and does other spammy things.)

 

[funkylogik]

Meh :thumbdown:

 

[jbenham]

Well, there are plenty of free apps every day. But *this* thread isn't about what *we* decide is our favorite free app today... it's about the "Free App Of The Day" on Amazon's Appstore. It's an app that normally costs, that Amazon is offering for free for the day.

For example, today is something called "Toca Lab", which is normally $2.99 but is free today, thanks to Amazon's largesse. It lets you virtually "sample" and test all 118 known chemical elements - even the highly radioactive ones that only exist for a fraction of a fraction of a second. It's aimed at the tween set, which is perfect - that's how old I was when I memorized the Periodic Table. (Of course, we only had up through 103 when I was in 6th grade... it's kinda like Pokemon, only slower. Gotta catch 'em all!)

Not too many permissions to whine about, mostly network-related. (The reason we whine about permissions is because it's a pain in the behind when an app you paid for runs ads and does other spammy things.)

Toca Lab is for older kids and the required permissions give the developer access to their wi-fi.

The apps Lucky 13 is talking about are also paid apps for free today and tomorrow. Amazon has $50 worth of apps they are giving away in celebration of their birthday. Check em out. Thanks Lucky!

 

[RobertB-DC]

Toca Lab is for older kids and the required permissions give the developer access to their wi-fi.

The apps Lucky 13 is talking about are also paid apps for free today and tomorrow. Amazon has $50 worth of apps they are giving away in celebration of their birthday. Check em out. Thanks Lucky!

Me = posting fail. An inverse relationship between what I think I know and what I actually know. Egg on face. Eating crow. D'oh!

(The mSecure password manager is a $10 app, so I'm recommending it to my wife. Thanks for setting me straight! Of course, I don't need a password manager, because I pre-encrypted my password with ROT13 encryption to keep hack0rz away.)

 

[Mr. Lucky]

A few free apps today, monopoly, sketchbook pro, runtastic, worms 2: armagedon, swype keyboard, fruit ninja puss in boots, Dr Panda's airport, polaris office, mSecure password manager, ski safari adventure and print hand mobile print app

Yep, and it continues through today (Saturday). If you're on a tablet, you'll see the special offer just to the right of the FAOTD. For phone users, you can easily miss it ("Celebrate the Appstore's Birthday") unless you swipe left after opening the appstore.

 

[jbenham]

Now they have an icon they call April Fools. It has a bunch of joke apps, but doesn't mention whether they are paid apps or not.

 

[jbenham]

Today's free app is Office Suite Pro 7. It is usually $14.99. I have had it for a couple years and have not had any trouble with it. I have only used it to create Word docs, but it seems as functional as MS Office. The permissions may cause people to not download it, but I don't know of a better office app.

Application Permissions: (Help me understand what permissions mean)
Request authtokens from the AccountManager
Get information about the currently or recently running tasks: a thumbnail representation of the tasks, what activities are running in it, etc
Write to external storage
Access information about Wi-Fi networks
Access the list of accounts in the Accounts Service
Read only access to device state
Change the Z-order of tasks
Allows an application to read from Gmail
Get notified that the operating system has finished booting
Open network sockets
Change Wi-Fi connectivity state
Manage the list of accounts in the AccountManager
Write to the user dictionary
Change network connectivity state
Access information about networks
PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming
Minimum Operating System: Android 3.0

 

[GrouchoM]

I got this when they were doing the big special (was it 10

 

[dan330]

today.. you can get it again for free

 

[jaybo1973]

I think this has been the free app before as I have it on my list of Amazon shops already. I wouldn't have paid full price for it as I wouldn't really use an office app. I use office enough on my computer

 

[RobertB-DC]

Today looks like another winner: Naught 2, sequel to a popular game where you control your character by "gravity", tilting the phone to move Naught through a dark, artistically cool underground environment. Has almost no permissions. I bought the original (on my son's recommendation) and enjoyed it - except that I don't have time to play games. Only downside is that it's kinda big, at 45MB. We've seen worse.