App Review By Jai Mercado

Introduction  In this presentation I will evaluate two different apps; an educational app and a city tour guide app. The two apps I am reviewing is:  Brain POP  Pocket Guide

What is an educational app?  The educational app is for many uses for example it could be used for entertainment of children or adults teaching children with the use of a mobile device.

What is Brain POP?  Brain pop is a free educational app that, daily, gives children an educational film or an interactive quiz. These interesting and satisfying movies and quizzes have a range of subjects from science to health education. This app is also a great way to teach young children a variety subjects, so it makes a great educational app.

User Requirements This app is aimed at children between the age of 5-13 and should be: Bright and colourful, so it is attractive and fun for kids This app is not gender based as the app does feature gender neutral themes. This app could be used for teachers as the app consists of a variety of subjects to learn from. This app requires no technical skill as it is a simple ‘tap to watch’ app, which means you just have to tap the video to watch it.

User Requirements Continued The audience would want a free reliable educational app that would teach children a variety of subjects so they are ready for their later life. This app contains a lot of content for example the large variety of subjects the child could learn. Another feature is the daily movies and quizzes. This fun educational app contains multiple bright coloured buttons and interactive movies and quizzes. The colour scheme of this app consists of mainly a turquoise, orange and white. The app also contains a funky fun and interesting style and has an easy to read bold writing.

User friendliness This app is simple and easy to use as you have to watch films and tap your answer for the quiz and also contains buttons that are always in the same place. This is easy to use by the way it has easy to read writing and has bright colourful buttons, which attracts the child to learn more about the subject. The app has daily movies and quizzes, which makes the child have something to do every day.

How do the features affect usability and intended use? The buttons being in the same place helps the user as the user can become more confident in navigating through the app. The easy to read writing helps as younger users can read the simple writing with no troubles and does not need the attention of an adult to help them. The daily movies and quizzes help the user as the movies and quizzes keep the user entertained every day.

Dependence of hardware This app only requires three of the following: Speaker – needed for the child to listen to the educational movie. Touchscreen – in order for the child to tap onto the buttons and movies and quizzes. Wi-Fi – This is needed so the child can receive the daily educational movies and quizzes.

How do the dependence for hardware affect usability and intended use? The speaker on the device helps the user with the app as the movies on the apps play sound and when the user answers one of the questions right it plays a sound to notify the user he has done something right. The touchscreen aids the user as the touchscreen makes the app very portable by making the user not bringing additional equipment like keyboard and mouse. Wi-Fi is needed for this app so the app can retrieve the daily movies and quizzes and can keep the user entertained.

Interface elements This app has a variety of buttons that the child can tap on; the buttons that consist of: Symbols-The symbols are helpful as the symbols are linked to the subject or idea it will lead to therefore aiding the user to navigate through he app. Text-The text is helpful as the text stands out in the turquoise colour this helps as it makes the text very easy to read. Images-images help the user navigate through the app as the image are large and contain a caption, which explains about what the image is going to lead to.

Integration of software This app integrates with no software this is possibly because the app wants to reduce the amount of strangers talking to children via social media and instant messaging. Also tis app is for children, who don’t need social media.

Platforms and Compatibility This app is only compatible with Apple, Android and windows phones.

Strengths and weaknesses This app is great, the app can keep the user entertained every day due to it’s daily movies and quizzes, not only this but the user can also repeat the same movies and quizzes this helps as this can improve the user’s intelligence on the subject they are learning. Although the app is great, it is reliant on internet speeds and connection to the internet and if there was no internet connection there will be no daily movies and quizzes and the user can also not be able o access the app itself.

What is a city tour guide app? An app like this would help someone navigate his/her way through a town that they are either visiting or has just arrived.

What is pocket guide? Pocket guide is a city tour guide app that helps people navigate through a town, city or even a country.

User requirements This app must be able to: Have easy control over scrolling the map Able to be usable without internet connection A neat easy to read interface Easy to follow directions to your destination A low amount of hardware needed to guide someone throughout a town/city Easy to see the map so that the user can navigate his/her way through the city/town.

User Friendliness This app Is very simple to use as you only have to type in the city you are in and it will show you the sight and landmarks of the city. The ’info’ button is always in the same place and does not the user find the button. However some cities may have too many landmarks or sights and the map may become quite messy and confusing for people.

How do the features affect usability and intended use? Typing in the city or town name into the search bar helps the user easily find what he/she is looking for as the user does not have to search through large lists of town names and cities. Having the ‘info’ button in the same area for all the towns and cities helps the user as the user becomes more acknowledged of navigation throughout the app. However, Some cities or towns may have too man restaurants or landmarks in an area and it may make the user confused as the map is messy and is full of pin points and notifications.

Dependence of Hardware This app requires wo pieces of hardware so that is usable to a lot of devices. The hardware required is:  Accelerometer- In order to change the app to portrait or landscape.  Touchscreen- In order for the user to type cities or press buttons

How do the dependence for hardware affect usability and intended use? The accelerometer helps the user as this makes the app very flexible as no matter which way the user turns the device it will adapt to the position of the device. The touchscreen helps the user as it makes the user easily navigate through the app as they just have to tap what they want.

Interface elements This app contains buttons and search boxes. The search boxes are used for searching cities to find out landmarks and the buttons are used for navigation through the app. The colour scheme is a simple black and orange, however the orange really is bold in the black. Not only this but it also contains maps so that people can navigate their way through the city or town. The app also contains symbols to mark areas and to lead users to other places of the app.

Integration with Software This app does not integrate with any other software and can’t integrate with other software as most software use Wi-Fi, which this app is use in offline mode.

Platforms and compatibility This app works with android and apple, however users with window devices are unable to access this app.

Strengths and weaknesses This travel app is has many strengths, one of those is that this app requires no internet connection, which means that you don’t have to plan your trip whilst connected to the internet. Also, users can download a ‘tour guide’ onto their phone by this app; this guides the user through famous landmarks and teaches the user about the landmark. However this app can be quite confusing as the map can get full of markers that mark areas like shops, landmarks and areas of interest this could also lead to the user possibly accidently taping onto the wrong marker. Also you have to pay for sightseeing tours, which could possibly ruin some holidays, especially if the family/people were new to the country.