PhoneSCREAM (iTunes Link) is the first of hopefully more anti-theft app from Singapore company BAK2U. The company develops anti-theft software for many mobile phones and laptops that can help increase your chances of retrieving your missing gadgets if you have their software installed.

Bak2U’s PhoneBAK software, currently available for most mobile phone platform, has some sophisticated features that will alert you when your phone is stolen, report the unauthorised SIM card’s information and also track the phone’s location via the mobile cell location.

BUT, for PhoneBAK to run on the iPhone, it probably requires the app to be running in the background for it to be able to detect and then send out the SMS without the thief’s knowledge, which was why the app never got the stamp of approval from Apple. That’s where PhoneSCREAM comes in.

What is PhoneSCREAM

PhoneSCREAM is like the sad little cousin of PhoneBAK which might deter some clueless thief for a short while. What it does is when activated, should anyone lift the iPhone, the in-built accelerometer will detect the movement and scream – by default, a siren will be heard. To deactivate it, you just need to press the Home button. You can also custom record a warning via the mic and use that as the siren. To change to that or to two other siren sounds, just go to the Settings and select PScream and make your choices there. Pretty simple and easy to use.

See it in action here:

How loud can it scream?

Therein lies the problems for this app. Its simplicity also makes it a less than effective way to deter theft of your iPhone. It’s main objective of alerting you when the iPhone is shifted, is easily thwarted if you had previously set the volume to low or silent. It will be more effective when the accelerometer detects the movement, when the siren goes, the app should also push the volume up to maximum for it to be effective. However, anyone who plugged their earphones to the iPhone, the PhoneSCREAM is rendered useless as the alert sounds comes out through the earphones.

Press HOME and be home free

Furthermore, it’s too easy to deactivate the alarm. Like an alarm clock, most people’s first reaction to shut the alarm is to press the biggest button on the clock. For the iPhone, it is the Home button. When PhoneSCREAM is running and screaming its head off, by pressing the Home button, the alarm is switched off and voila, instant peace. A better option would be to set a numeric key lock that will only silent the siren if the right key combination is keyed in.

According to the app’s description in the App Store, PhoneSCREAM disables the auto lock so that it will always detect motion but will lock the iPhone when the siren is triggered. However, this doesn’t seem to work for the iPod Touch as when the siren goes off, after the Home button is pressed, the auto-lock did not lock the iPod Touch and just returns to the Springboard. Anyone with iPhone can verify that it will display the number pad for unlocking?

Another thing to add is that the app will keep your iPhone awake if it is activated. Forgot about it and your battery will probably go flat before it can start screaming.

i-PhoneSCREAM – Give me PhoneBAK soon!

That said, it is unfortunate that due to Apple’s strict restriction over the SDK prevented Bak2U to offer PhoneBAK for the iPhone. Though PhoneSCREAM can serve as a _first line of defense, its limitations are apparent and makes it far less effective as an anti-theft software. Hopefully the guys at Bak2U will persevere and hopefully we’ll see a closer copy of PhoneBAK for the iPhone in the near future, or at least a beefed up PhoneSCREAM soon.

PhoneSCREAM (iTunes Link) is available at the App Store for US$0.99. Also check out other iPhone apps from Bak2U at the App Store.

Screen shots

Though small in number, the iPhone app developers here in Singapore are releasing a good number of applications that are of quality and useful for Singaporeans. Some apps developed here are also of global appeal.

Here are a few that were updated and/or released in the past week.

TubeJunkies – App for subscribing and viewing Youtube videos

TubeJunkies is a special RSS reader to make it easier for YouTube fans to keep track of their favourite videos in YouTube. Users can subscribe to video channels based on search text, youtube users, or video tags, and never miss any new videos uploaded.

TubeJunkies is another app from local developer Muh Hon Cheng who also did SG Buses, SG Trains and SG ERP.

Some of the features includes subscribing to video channels based on search texts, Youtube usernames and tags, marking viewed or not for the subscribed channels, just like a typical RSS reader. Do read more about the app here

Note that viewing of the Youtube videos is via streaming over WIFI or 3G/Edge. The app is available now in the App Store at US$5.99. A more detailed review of the TubeJunkies after I try it out.

BuUuk 2.1 released

Ask any Singaporeans what they do more than sleeping, the answer will probably be eating. Its surprisingly that we are not up there with the most obese nations. Furthermore we are quite discerning when it comes to food – people follows TV programs that showcase popular food stores religiously. That’s where BuUuk comes in (how do you pronounce that?)

The app contains listing of over 4,000 food and drink locations in Singapore and allows you to search nearby places (location-aware) for your next meal or drink. Easy to use ranking and reviews feature by users of the app gives you a quick overview before even stepping into the place.

A big plus of the app is the Offers section that they work with outlets to provide discounts when you flash your iPhone with the coupon. However, a downer for iPod Touch users is that if you are not connected via WIFI at the joint, you can’t get the coupon as the app will not work. The use-cache-if-no-network seems to fail for me as the app will auto-shutdown.

For social-networking loving people, you can link BuUuk to connect to your Twitter account and it will crosspost whenever you rate a place or drop a quick review. It also allows you to snap and share photos of the food or place. Lastly, with the 2.1 update, you can also keep bookmarks of the places you found in BuUuk, which is a god-send for forgetful people like me.

One thing this app will need is more Singaporeans to rate the eating place for the database to make any sense. So why wait? Next time you have a meal or a drink, just pop BuUuk and make a quick review. Best of all, BuUuk is available for FREE at the App Store.

The Straits Times – local broadsheet comes to the iPhone

The Straits Times is Singapore’s main English paper in circulation and its no surprise to see it popping up in the App Store (though much slower than Today)

As a mobile news reader, its interface is clean, easy and fast to navigate around the various sections and individual story of the paper. Turn your iPhone horizontally, and it automatically switches to a bigger font, making it easier to read. You can also bookmark individual news article for further reading.

Functions aside, I have a little bone to pick. The use of the serif font (Times Roman?) for the display of news articles, makes it looks just a bit old fashion, somewhat 1980s. Maybe its me, but comparatively, the use of Georgia for the New York Times app makes the news article looks better.

Another thing I didn’t like was the ad bar at the bottom of the page, which took up almost 20% of the screen space, which is by itself already quite limited. What’s worse is they are currently linked to ST’s own static one page ad, Razor TV’s static ad and lastly, an almost non-functional STOMP page. face palm

Thankfully, the fast download makes it useful for a quick sync-and-dash to read while you are offline. All-in-all, a pretty good first attempt for fuss-free reading of the latest news and reports from the local broadsheet. Grab it at the “App Store”: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=301065357&mt=8 now.

SGBlood – Give Blood and Give Life (:

So say this new app from Junda Ong – he who gave us the must-have SG Toto and SG 4D.

Its main objective is to motivate you to go out and donate blood to the blood bank. It has a calendar listing all upcoming Bloodmobile locations, a calculator to show you when you can next donate blood, contacts for blood donation centres in Singapore and also a simple FAQ about blood donation.

I like its simplicity and its message of this app. Blood is precious and there is always a need for blood donation in Singapore for whatever emergencies. One thing I hope to see improved is the Show Map feature. It loads up a Google Map page which made the real estate for the map reduced to just 60% of the available space. It should load just the map without the Google Map interface, with the pin on the exact location if possible.

Another suggestion that will improve the app is if possible, there should also be a Add-To-iCal button on each event detail page so that one can add that to our schedule.

So do support our local developers to do more and better quality apps and maybe one will strike gold.