Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve got a Gmail account and you work with the iPhone or an iPad, you may have been jealous of all the extra fabulous features that your Android friends and family have had that you didn’t in a Gmail app – that era has ended. With Gmail 2.0 for iOS, you’ve got a perfectly simple interface that’s so stripped down, you might think something is missing. In reality you’ve got the best-tuned Gmail app experience yet offered on iOS – though that should be true every time there’s a release, it’s gotten particularly well improved over the past this time around.

This new version of Gmail has, first and foremost, easy access to multiple accounts. Perhaps you’ve got an account for work, another for personal business, and another you use to keep in contact with your granny. You don’t want those all mixed up, do you? Gmail 2.0 makes it perfectly simple to switch between them on the fly with a simple tug of the display – right up where your profile name is – check the new arrow and make your faces appear.

The 6 months since the team at Google announced they’d be creating a whole new Gmail experience for iOS have been spent not just adding usability features, but adding aesthetic cues and tweaks as well. You’ll find that this version of Gmail is flatter and smoother than ever before, even going so far as to update the color scheme of the icon for the app – white now takes over the previously dominant red – or does it emphasize it?

This version of Gmail allows you to see much more in-detail invitations to events via Google+ as well as the ability to give a +1 to Google+ posts without leaving the app. In short, this version of Gmail entices you to join Google+ more than ever, and we expect this trend to continue through the future as well. Access posts, RSVP, or jump on down to the mobile web if you absolutely must – but stay if you can!

You can download this version of Gmail from the iTunes app store right this minute for absolutely no cash at all – it’s free! You’ll need a Gmail account to work with Gmail, of course, but you can create a profile from the front screen of the app as well.

Gmail 2.0 for iOS Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The artist responsible for some of the most iconic album covers in rock and roll history, the man known as Roger Dean, has taken part in the creation of a game by the name of Dragon’s Dream. This game takes some fabulous ethereal environmental elements from Dean’s artworks and creates a multi-level set of worlds for you, a tiny dragon, to fly around in. The game exists as a sort of classic-feeling side-scrolling flying adventure and has you seeking full-sized versions of the artworks at hand by beating each level with just a set of taps and holds.

This game works perfectly well on each of the different iDevice screen sizes – iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch alike. It takes a simple game mechanic – holding your finger down on your display to make the sprite flap his wings – and makes an above-and-beyond beautiful bit of brilliance to make it a must-own app for your high-definition devices. Everything from the game environments to the loading screen back out to the title logo has been designed by Dean.

For those of you unaware, Roger Dean is the man behind your favorite progressive rock album covers – Yes and Asia being some of the more famous. Having also created one of the most well-known logos for a video game in the history of the universe – Tetris – allows Dean the clout to create the game we’re seeing here, top to bottom.

“We have taken many elements from the Dragons Dream paintings; landscapes from Arches Morning, 1st April, Birdsong, Morning Dragon, Elbow Rock and Sea of Light all come together to create two new worlds, making this application an essential element of my artwork portfolio.” – Roger Dean

You’ll be able to pick this game up from the iTunes App Store starting on the 18th of November starting at £2.99. The release may be international by that time – for now we’re sure it’ll be out in the UK at least. Here’s crossing your fingers and toes!

Roger Dean’s Dragons Dream for iOS Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The developers behind Evernote have brought on their cleanest-ever interface for the 5.0 version of the app here in iOS, making it perfect for your brand new iPhone 5, iPad 4th gen, or iPad mini. It’s not limited to those machines, of course, with anyone working with iOS 5.0 (or higher) able to take advantage of the new completely redesigned note-taking beast, complete with classic green accents. It’s the ease in use you’ll notice first here with Evernote 5.0 for iOS, with each of your main sections in a folder and quick-hit buttons for a new note, in-hand scanning, and snapshots too.

Evernote 5.0 brings on a user interface that will make you want to use it more often – a simple concept, to be sure, but not so simple to capture in the real world. The designers behind Evernote 5 have taken it upon themselves to concentrate not so much on the features and abilities of the app, but the usability primarily. Once the usability was made perfect – or perfect as they wanted it to get – they went back and added some features anyway, almost as a bit of a bonus.

Your home screen shows quick access to notes, notebooks, tags, places, and Premium features – now no longer relegated to a web browser. You’ve got your home screen quick buttons up top (or to the side, depending on which device you’re using), and you’ve got a new showcase style inside each section that shows off notes as cards – great for quick previews. Your shared notebook list can be seen easily identifiable (if you’re Premium, that is), with the ones shared with you waiting to be peeked at.

Once you’re gotten past the excellence of not just the interface at the front but the note-taking swiftness as well, you’ll see your tags and places as well. Your places are mapped out using TomTom and Open Street Maps data – and they work fantastically quick. From here, as before, you’re able to see where each of your notes were taken and have quick access to the lot of them.

The iPad version of Evernote 5 has a few unique features that utilize the extra screen real estate you’ve got, with added notebook stack support in Notebooks view and a list of recently viewed, edited, and created notes on your homescreen. Of course the whole app has bug fixes for bugs we didn’t even know existed in the first place and is rather speedy on the whole. Have a peek at this free app right now in the iTunes App Store and also consider upgrading to Premium for extra cloud storage space and some lovely bonus features.

Also have a peek at the timeline below to see many of the other add-ons Evernote has made clear over the past few weeks. This ecosystem is expanding at a great rate!

Evernote 5 for iOS Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.