the NEO Reviewer report zone
My reviews of the NDS-apps --- By
The Compiler [
* No.1 NEO Reviewer *
]
My
reviews of the NDS-apps
First of all, my English isn't that good, because I'm Swiss, so
sorry for all mistakes I make.
But let's start with the reviews:
Movie Player by Spinal
It's one more movie player for the DS. But a good one! It
displays movies at a quite good framerate, alltought they are
quite big, because the audio is uncompressed.
pros and cons
+ Nice UI (even though it's a rip-off of WMP)
+ Good Video quality
+ Ability to skip, and turn off the lower screen if you don't
need it to save battery
- Can't store the movies in directories
  4/5
graphics
As said before, the player's got a nice UI. Well, It's a movie
player, so most of the graphics depend on yourself
3/5
sound
Er... there isn't any excepting the movie's one.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
There isn't anything there wasn't before in other movie players.
2.5/5
usability
Everything good, beside of the aspect you can't store the movies
in directories.
3.5/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
It won't, because I can't see any sense in viewing movies with a
such small display (and if I would, I would take Moonshell,
because I'm already using it for music playback)
What I would improve/add
- The ability to have the movies stored in folders
overall ranking
  17/30
TabBed by wizlon
This is an app designed for guitar players. It contains a
tab-reader, a drum-machine, a chord table/lookup, a metronome,
and a small music-player
pros and cons
+ Very feature-rich
+ Many chords to lookup (even such as "Ebmaj7", of which I never
heard heard before)
- MP3-player plays files only if they're converted to mono.
3.5/5
graphics
Not bad, you can choose a background and a font you like, it has
got all it needs.
4/5
sound
The drum-machine sounds good, the metronom does, the audio files
too (only mono), so what do we want more? Stereo-playback for
the files and it would be perfect.
4/5
ideas, innovation
There wasn't any guitar-tool for the ds before. Ergo, the full
mark here.
5/5
usability
Great, with expect of some small bugs.
4/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
It will, alltought I can't play guitar. Maybe reading tabs is
just right for me, because my mother has got a guitar. Let's
rock! 
By the way: I like playing with the drum-machine!
What I would improve/add
- Playback of stereo-mp3s
- playing and reading tabs at the same time
overall ranking
 22/30
JabberDS by theli
With this app you can chat via jabber with your ds.
pros and cons
+ Contains nearly all features of Jabber
- Seems like it doesn't work correctly if other people add me
- strange keyboard
- No UI for the settings
2/5
graphics
Looks nice, it doesn't need more then it has currently in my
opinion.
3/5
sound
The sound if someone messages you is a litte bit low, and there
could be more sounds
3/5
ideas, innovation
There were other messaging clients before, but noone for Jabber.
3/5
usability
Not bad, but could be better, especially the keyboard.
2.5/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, because I haven't got any Jabber contacts.
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
15/30
Reno Studio by willreno
It's a text editor and a drawing pad.
pros and cons
+ Feature-rich text-editor
+ Handwriting recognition
+ Support for Pinyin
+ Very good drawing app
- Very very unintuitive GUI
4/5
graphics
Ouch! Everything looks ugly!
1.5/5
sound
There isn't any. A text-editor doesn't need sounds.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
There were other text-editors before, but this one comes with
some new ideas and features.
3/5
usability
No comment...
1/5
motion support
Yes.
1.5/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Yes, because its a good text editor, although with a ****py UI
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
15/30
DS-DOS by wolped
A "clone" of MS-DOS for the DS. Or simplyfied a
filebrowser with a clock and without a GUI
pros and cons
+ Geek-like
- Doesn't work for me
- Doesn't really make sense
2.5/5
graphics
Graphics? Graphics?? What's this?
2.5/5
sound
On the beginning of DOS there wasn't any sound! So why should
there be sound in a "clone" of DOS?
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
It's geek and a good idea, but there are other filebrowsers.
3/5
usability
Well... you give an order, and press enter. Savvy?
3/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/2.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, because it doesn't work. If it would, it would probably stay
there.
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
15/30
Weebasic by marovada
A BASIC editor and interpreter for the ds
pros and cons
+ It's BASIC!
+ Supports dual-screen and other things of the DS.
- No GUI for the file selection
- Example apps don't work
3.5/5
graphics
It supports backgrounds and sprites for the programms!
3.5/5
sound
Sadly, you can't output sound in your programm.
2/5
ideas, innovation
You can use the stylus in the programms, but not the microfon,
nor wifi or motion.
2/5
usability
There should be a on-demand help, but apart of this it's quite
good.
4/5
motion support
No
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
It would, because I already programmed some things in BASIC and
will continue this on the DS.
What I would improve/add
- Supporting more of the DS' hardware
overall ranking
16.5/30
Flashcart OS by TeenDev
A rom-loader for the ds with a nice UI. Not more, not
less.
pros and cons
+ Nice UI
+ Supports R4DS/M3 Simply skins with only small modifications.
- I can't see no sense in it, because the Firmware of your
Flashcart can do the same, or even more
- Can't control it with the stylus
2.5/5
graphics
It supports R4/M3 skins, and the standard-skin is also nice.
Even the small icons look polished.
4/5
sound
There isn't any, but it won't make sense.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
there isn't anything new.
2/5
usability
Has got some bugs (scrolling upwards is too fast), but except
that it's good
3/5
motion support
No
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, because the original firmware can do the same, and it
doesn't work for me...
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
15.5/30
Motion Plotter by Sektor
A small drawing app for the DS
pros and cons
+ Supports Motion
- Draws only in 8 directions
- Doesn't make fun without motion
- No saving for the images
- Only 7 colors
0/5
graphics
Hmmm. I only can see some lines in some colors.
1/5
sound
There isn't any, but it won't make sense.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
I think it's the first drawing app for the ds which supports
motion, but there isn't anything other new.
3/5
usability
Couldn't test it with motion, but I think it could be controlled
even of small children, especially with motion.
3/5
motion support
Yes (Yay!)
1.5/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, because it isn't funny without motion.
What I would improve/add
- Saving files
- More colors (probably use L as "shift" for the colors)
- Drawing in more directions (wouldn't be possible without
motion, but with motion, it would!)
- Add dual screen support
overall ranking
12.5/30
Fat player mikmod by Cid2Mizard
A chiptune player for the ds which supports nearly all
tracker-formats, and has got a small visualition.
pros and cons
+ Visualition
+ Supports even salami pieces (but only if they come from a
tracker)
- Can't turn the sound above 100%
3.5/5
graphics
Nice visualition, the GUI fits to the chiptunes.
4/5
sound
Well, the sounds comes from the chiptunes. The sample files
sound good.
3/5
ideas, innovation
Some other programms (like Moonshell) support some of the
tracker formats, some do only mikmod support. Also there's a
quite nice visualition.
4/5
usability
You couldn't do much more than selecting a file and justify the
volume. But that's all you would like to do.
3/5
motion support
No (but it wouldn't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Yes, I'm going to search some good chiptunes and listen to them
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
19/30
DSBash by leinad
A programm for reading bash.org-quotes on your DS (By the
way: There is also a version for german-bash.org, I pm'ned the
author, you can get it
here.
pros and cons
+ Very very funny
+ Runs fast
+ You can bookmark/save quotes in a textfile
- GUI is a little bit messy
- Can't browse trought your saved quote right in DSBash
3/5
graphics
Not really good.
2/5
sound
There isn't any.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
You could already surf to bash.org with a browser on the ds, but
that's a new confortable way.
4/5
usability
As I said, the UI is a little bit messy, but anyway easy usable.
3.5/5
motion support
No (but it wouldn't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Yes! I LOVE reading chatquotes!
What I would improve/add
- The UI
- Support to vote for quotes
- Support to browse trought the bookmarks
overall ranking
16.5/30
Mediatheque DS by Cid2mizard
With this app you can manage your collection of movies,
comics, homebrew apps, games, stamps, whatever...
pros and cons
+ Seems to look very polished and useful
+ Has got many features
+ English and French
- Doesn't run on my R4DS (I can only see a blue screen with two
GUI-elements on it)
4/5
graphics
The UI looks polished and you can even display covers for the
files.
4/5
sound
Don't know if there is any, as it doesn't run for me.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
It's a really good way to manage your things!
4/5
usability
Can't say much, as I couldn't try it. But on the screenshot it
looks very usable.
3.5/5
motion support
No (but it wouldn't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
If it would work, I would it use for managing my homebrew-games
and -apps. Unfortunately it doesn't
What I would improve/add
- Support for the R4
- User-defined fields for the database.
overall ranking
19.5/30
DSF by samel
This is a
Brain**** interpreter for the DS. Simply sick! Brain**** is
sick at all, a "Hello World" program looks like this:
++++++++++[>+++++++>++++++++++>+++>+<<<<-]>++.>+.+++++++..+++.>++.<<+++++++++++++++.>.+++.------.--------.>+.>.
pros and cons
+ Which sick man had the idea to port Brain**** to the DS???
- Displays the hole sourcecode before running the program
- Some programs don't work
- USELESS! 
1/5
graphics
The UI looks polished and you can even display covers for the
files.
4/5
sound
I'm wondering how a sound driver would look in brain****
 So the only sound
you hear is the ticking noise of the keyboard to input a
filename.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
All I'm saying is: SICK!
4/5
usability
There isn't any filebrowser to choose programms, you have to
type the filename manually.
2/5
motion support
No (but it wouldn't make any sense) (btw: Wonder how a motion
driver looks in Brain****
 )
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, I can't see any sense in it.
What I would improve/add
- Filebrowser to select a file
overall ranking
14/30
DSision by spinal
A homebrew-launcher with a very nice and intuitive GUI
pros and cons
+ Looks awesome!
+ LOOKS AWESOME! 
- Can't adjust the settings in the launcher
- Doesn't work on my R4
- Digital clock seems not to work correctly
3/5
graphics
WOW! The only thing I don't like, is that the included icons are
pixelated, but you can easily replace them.
4.5/5
sound
There is a start sound at the beginning, nothing more. It
doesn't need more in my opinion.
3/5
ideas, innovation
It's not the first homebrew-loader, but sure the only with a
such eye-candy like this one.
4/5
usability
Couldn't be better!
5/5
motion support
No (it would be cool to move these icons by tilting the ds
 )
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
It would actually replace the firmare of my R4, if it would
launch things there.
What I would improve/add
- Ability to browse by filnames
- Compatibility to the R4DS
overall ranking
21/30
Ranking
list
| Place |
Name |
Author |
Points |
| 1st |
TabBed |
wizlon |
22 |
| 2nd |
DSision |
spinal |
21 |
| 3rd |
Mediatheque DS |
Cid2mizard |
20.5 |
| 4th |
Fat player mikmod |
Cid2Mizard |
19 |
| 5th |
Movie Player |
Spinal |
17 |
| 6th |
Weebasic |
marovada |
16.5 |
| 6th |
DSBash |
leinad |
16.5 |
| 7th |
Flashcart OS |
TeenDev |
15.5 |
| 8th |
JabberDS |
theli |
15 |
| 8th |
Reno Studio |
willreno |
15 |
| 8th |
DS-DOS |
wolped |
15 |
| 9th |
DSF |
samel |
14 |
| 10th |
Motion Plotter |
Sektor |
12.5 |
Well, well, well. Now the same hard work for all the games
Remeber: This isn't the final version, I'm going to
double-check all the things, and ask me English teacher if he
corrects it for me
Also I'm going to add only 1.5 points for motion/original entry
as mentioned by Dr. Neo. So the ranking list can change again.
By the way: Reno Draw has got a better place now, as Reno Draw
is the best drawing-app for the ds I ever saw!
As the motion/original enter now only gives 1.5 points, all
rankings are ... points of 28, not of 30. But I left it like it
was, simly think threre are two bonus points, but no app became
them
Florian |
NDS apps review --- By
Ben2303 [
* No.2 NEO Reviewer *
]
Here are my NDS apps reviews, I'll use the International Penguin
Notation Scheme.
A little chart to explain things :
 |
Awesome ! |
 |
Excellent ! |
|
|
Good |
 |
Average |
|
|
Not good |
|
|
Bad |
|
|
Brain damaging |
I'll use a similar table as my games reviews, except the final
rank is now on the first line, just right to the app name.
I have no wifi point, so I couldn't test these apps :
JabberDS
DSBash
|
 |
|
My
Project-Reno Studio
|
|
|
|
Presentation
This tool features a notepad system and a simplistic
paint application. It has also handwritting recognition.
|
|
|
Features
On notepad side, you can type using an ugly keyboard, or
with handwritting recognition (the one included in PA
Lib if I'm right). handwritting is based on the same
think old pdas are, and I don't like it that much...
Anyway, that's a notepad, you got the point. According
to the author, the main purpose is chinese writting, and
looks like chinese is well implemented as far as I can
see (and understand...).
The sketching side is simple but nice. It's working
pretty good imho. You can draw, fill and do the basic
stuffs, yet it's far from the DS drawing apps we all
know...
|
|
|
Usefullness
This can be usefull to take a few notes or a simple
sketch (like the license plate of that guy who parked
too close to your car, or the phone number of the girl
you always meet in the supermarket lines).
|
|
|
Interface
Ouch. Interface is incredibly clumsy, and I had to fight
not to shut down the app and give it a bad bad rank...
It will hurt your eyes, hurt your logic, hurt your
fingers and probably more...
|
|
DS-DOS
|
|
|
|
Presentation
Some kind of DOS interpreter. You know DOS, the command
line thing everybody hates ? That's it.
|
|
|
Features
Features look good on paper, but nothing worked for me.
I couldn't input anything with the keyboard, so I tried
the pad.. Everything went black...
|
|
|
Usefullness
DOS is a bad shell, and there are graphical interfaces
in the same category.
|
|
|
Interface
It's like MS-DOS, but worst. That's a shame cos it
needed a lot of work I'm sure, but it's just not
working. Don't blame me for my hard words, I'm an old
man, I worked a lot on unix command line (ksh, bash,
...) and I really liked that. But that was the past.
|
|
Mediatheque DS
|
|
|
|
Presentation
An inventory utility that can handle your book
collection, your DVDs, games, .... Anything that can be
categorized and stored.
|
|
|
Features
Great filters with quick access, coverpics, search, it
has everything needed.
|
|
|
Usefullness
Well, depends on people. I won't use it cos it's way
less handy than PC equivalent. I don't have to walk
around with my collections, but if you need, this is the
tool for you.
|
|
|
Interface
Damin, the same fonts as fat player mikmod... I don't
like them, they're hard to read. Interface is not really
goodlooking, but it is still functionnal, even if
touching an item in the list don't work and that makes
me mad.
|
|
NDS Division (Games and Apps) reviews by thebawp [COMPLETE]
--- By
thebawp
NeoFlash 2008 Competition NDS Application Reviews
My Top 5 Applications (in order)
1. Tabbed ~ An inventive and useful application for
the DS that is a must download for any musicians!
2. Spinal's Media Player ~ A great application that
supports many video formats so you can watch your favourite
movies on the move.
3. DSision ~ If you're bored of your Flashcart O/S, give
it a makeover with this application.
4. DS-Dos ~ If like me, you long for the days of DOS,
take a trip down memory lane with this DOS like OS for your
flashcart.
5. JabberDS ~ Got a wifi connection but not at your PC?
Chat to friends with this handy little application.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tabbed:
I found the interface to be very neat and responsive, and
there's some nice little touches like the ability to select
different fonts (although some of the selectable fonts are a bit
tricky to see!) and backgrounds.
I must profess to knowing next to nothing about guitar tabs
though, so I can't comment in as much detail as the application
deserves. The added drum machine is nice (I even managed to
compose a very basic tune on it!) and the metronome feature is
cool, though I'm not entirely sure how practical it could be to
a budding musician.
If I wanted to impress some of my more musically inclined
friends however, I'd be sure to show them this.
8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wee Basic 0.4
I'll admit to knowing very little (read: nothing) about BASIC at
all, so it's quite hard to comment fairly on this application.
The interface seems responsive enough, and supports the dual
screens (keyboard in lower section of the screen, text at the
top) but there's very little else I can say. Certainly, this
could be of some use to any programmers out there.
6/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DS Plotter
I found this to be an interesting little widget, though I'm not
sure how entirely useful it could be. It reminded me of a much
more user friendly and colourful etch-a-sketch - however, the
use of the DS was pretty disappointing (no touch screen, only
top portion of the screen used) although I do understand it
supports DSMotion (which I was unable to test). I thought it
was also a shame that there was no way to save your creations.
5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DSF
Again, I'm afraid I have very little knowledge about this
application, although my understanding of it is that it is a
file interpreter. It would have been nice if the app had come
with a sample for me to try, but alls I can really comment on is
that the interface seemed to work well enough.
5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FAT Player Mikmod
An interesting application with a fairly well implemented and
visually effective GUI with plenty of supported track types. I
found this to be a quite well designed application, which was
neat and simple to use.
7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DSBash
This is a fun and novel application although I found the GUI to
be quite 'busy' and a tad hard to read. Still, if you have
access to a wifi connection and need to kill some time, this is
a great little tool to pass the time by reading 'net quotes!
It's also handy that you can save your favourite quotes to a
text file on the DS.
7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JabberDS
I was quite impressed with this application, which is basically
a chat client for the DS, but I though it was let down by the
keyboard as it seemed a touch unresponsive. I think more work
is needed to make this a little more polished and effective, but
as it stands, I think this works well and is definately a useful
application to have on the DS.
7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DSision
This is an application that can basically be used to replace the
shell on your flashcart. I love customising everything I own,
so it's nice to see plenty of options to customise as it's fully
skinnable and even the start up sound can be changed to
something of your own choosing. It was definately a nice change
navigating my flashcart via touchscreen! Smart.
7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mediatheque DS v1.0
I've never personally understood the appeal of maintaining lists
of all the books/dvds/music I own, so I see even less appeal in
doing it on the DS. Having said that, this application seems to
do the job very well, and I think for someone interested in
keeping their libraries on them might find this a useful little
tool. It's nice that you can edit the info directly on the DS,
and the filters are flexible and work well. If you do let your
friends borrow your stuff, you can also make a note using this
application, which is quite cool.
7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flashcart OS
The second new flashcart OS of the contest, but I'm afraid this
isn't quite as good as DSicion. Though it appears quite
polished, I didn't find the control scheme as intuative as that
found on DSision. It's an okay alternative flashcart OS for
those looking for one though.
6/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reno Studio
I can remember when I first got into the DS homebrew scene, and
looking everywhere for a really good text editor. There were
one or two half finished application, but it was only when DS
Organize really began to develop that I finally found what I
wanted. If Reno Studio had been around at the time, then I
think it would have been a nice alternative, particularly
because it has handwriting recognition. However, I didn't find
the GUI to be that user friendly, and it looks very basic.
7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DS-DOS
I grew up with DOS, so this is application inspires quite a bit
of nostalgia for me! It's quite fun to use this to launch
files, but really, I can't say it's that practical. It's
definately different though, and makes a nice change.
7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spinal's Media Player
I've never tried playing movies on my DS, so this was a first
time and I was actually quite impressed. The interface is slick
and functional, and allows you to fast forward and you can even
resume any clip you've been watching. I think with a little
more work (so that movies don't have to just be stored in the
root) this could be a very useful, handy application.
8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In all, I have to say this was a very interesting experience for
me. I do consider to have a lot of interest for the homebrew DS
scene, but I've never really played around with a lot of the
applications out there. I think ALL of the entries do very well
in representing how varied, inventive and just damn cool the
coders behind the homebrew scene are. I bow down to you all!
|
NDS Apps Reviews (Final Update 04/04/08) --- By
sumiguchi
The NDS/GBA APP division of NEO SPRING COMPO 2008 (13 entries
total)
Position Project Title & Forum Link Author Download Link
[NDS APP] DSision spinal 9/10
This is a flash card menu system. It has a mac-like interface
which works really well and you can control with either the
stylus or keyboard. There are hot keys to take you to
preconfigured locations and start/end buttons so you can browse
a lot of folders quickly. It's too bad it isn't sorted by name.
There are configurable quick links and the whole interface is
skinnable. You can change the startup sound for a skin so that
your favorite mp3 starts playing but the mp3 does need to be
downsampled and I think mine was mono as well but not sure if it
needed to be. It plays spinal format movies (I think...didn't
test) and both mod and mp3 music though other tracker formats
are missing. Its missing some features that my flashcart os has
(like brightness, copy/paste files etc) but the features I use
99.9% of the time are well done in this app - plus it just looks
cool. Source has also been released!
[NDS APP] JabberDS theli 8.5/10
This is an instant message client that is compatible with Gtalk
- a pretty popular messaging system that I use on occasion. The
menu system isn't pretty but it works and makes it easy to keep
track of multiple conversations. There isn't any emoticon
support and if you make a mistake, you have to erase everything
you typed since to fix it because there is no cursore control.
Aside from the minor issues, the application is fast, easy to
use and works very well.
[NDS APP] FAT PLAYER MIKMOD v3 Cid2Mizard 8/10
This is a nicely done music player for all formats supported by
mikmod. The interface is clean and looks nice. The
visualization is a little basic and the only button support is
for play and mute. It would be nice if you could browse your
card for music files but I guess putting them all in the musics
folder at least keeps them together. A pretty well done app for
fans of tracked music.
[NDS APP] TabBed wizlon 7.5/10
This is a guitar player helper application with some nice
features but isn't perfect. The tab viewer lets you browse your
card and pick any file but the screen width limitation means you
likely need to edit your tab sheets so they display well. It
has a metronome which is good for any instrument - but the max
volume on the ds means it is hard to hear while playing an
instrument. There is also a drum loop so you can set up a beat
and change the speed it plays. There is a chord lookup and a
chord browser and a media player that supports mods and mp3s.
The options page lets you change the bg and font though the
default looked best to me.
There are lots of good ideas in this app but its a little a
buggy here and there and it could use some better gfx and larger
fonts.
[NDS APP] Spinal's Media Player... spinal
7.5/10
Thanks for posting the sample video! The player works pretty
well but I did get some skipping here and there. The controls
were good, navigating is quite easy and having auto-bookmarks is
great. I have a personal grudge against doing video conversion
but if you don't this could be useful to you.
[NDS APP] Mediatheque DS v1.0 Cid2Mizard 7/10
This is an app you can use to organize your collection of
...whatever. There a some specific attributes thatyou can
define for each item including things like the title, your
rating and if you lent it to someone. The interface works
pretty well and you can edit the information right on the ds.
I'm not really sure this is practical but if you need something
like this - this will make you happy!
[NDS APP] DSBash leinad 7/10
I never heard of bash.org until I tried this app. It serves up
funny/strange quotes and definitions. You can bookmark your
favorites and there are lots of ways to browse. This is a fun
idea - more of toy than an app really but I like it.
[NDS APP] My Project-Reno Studio Neo Compo willreno
6/10
This is a notepad and a paint program. The notepad supports a
pinyin input system which I'd imagine is useful if you know
Chinese - but have no idea how well it works - so I'm going to
assume it is like the rest of the application - which is
functional but doesn't have a clean interface. The colors on
the keyboard are distracting and the menus in the paint program
could have been a little nicer. Everything seemed to work
pretty well though.
[NDS APP] DSF samel 5.5/10
This is an interpreter of one of the most bizarre programming
languages I've seen. I tested a few files and the ones that
just displayed output worked ok but I couldn't get one that
needed input to work. Not really a practical app or language
but I dunno cause some people seem to enjoy it.
[NDS APP] Flashcart OS: N 2.1 TeenDev 5/10
This is a neatly done flashcart menu/browser but there is no
game icon or game info shown so it looks more like a gba
flashcart os. This is pretty much a show stopper for me.
[NDS APP] Motion Plotter Sektor 4/10
I guess this is more of a toy than an application but it's
basically a multi color etch-a-sketch. A child may have some
fun with it but I didn't dig it much.
[NDS APP] Wee Basic 0.4 marovada 4/10
I had hard time getting a basic program to run. Not sure if
this is really a practical application but i suppose a full
function basic interpreter would allow people to make some
simple custom apps. This version isn't quite there.
[NDS APP] DS-DOS *updated to .45* wolped 3/10
Unfortunately this a very limited edition of dos that doesn't
support things like dir *.nds - in fact if you put a space
after dir - it doesn't work. I'm not really sure what the
vision of this app is but this version hasn't captured my
interest. |
NDS Application reviews --- By
MagNet [
* No.3 NEO Reviewer *
]
Took me quite some time, oh well at least it's finally done. I
had really some tough time deciding the scores as the software
is very varied.
FAT Player Mikmod 8/10
Tracker format player
Like chiptunes as much as I do? Well then this is the ultimate
tracker format player, supports formats ranging from MOD, XM, IT
over S3M to 669, I don't even know if there's any known tracker
format it doesn't support. Also the execution is pretty nice so
when you get into the program the controls are really simple and
you'll be listening to your favorite tracked tune in no time.
+Supports variety of tracker formats
+Functional GUI
+Frequence visualizer
-Can access only the „Musics“ folder on the root of your card
-Can't go over 100% volume
Reno Studio 6.5/10
Notepad and paint
The main feature of this program is the support of writing
pinyin characters but other than that it's very basic. Supports
saving, loading, copy and paste in a kind of weird way and has a
drawing application. What really puts it down is the GUI,
instead of adding more buttons on the touch screen you're
required to do DS buttons with virtual keyboard keys
combinations to achieve some of the functions.
+Almost fullscreen virtual keyboard and handwriting
+Copy and paste functions
+Supports pinyin characters
-Unintuitive GUI
-Strange keyboard layout in places
-Per screen scrolling
-Cursor can't be moved with the dpad
-Motion drawing is 8-way only
-You need to write .bmp to the filename manually
Spinal's Media Player 8/10
Video player with converter
While still very early in development this application has a lot
of potential. What's already there is lightning fast converter
that supports every format that you can play with ffmpeg and a
quite nice player for the DS with WMP9 graphics. As long as you
want to play just one video file you're fine, however when you
switch to other videos you may end up stuck on the end of the
file and there's no folder support yet so all your video files
need to be in the root. Once these issues are fixed it's gonna
be one hell of a video player though.
+Encoding is quick
+Working seek bar
+Nice GUI
+Allows for both 16:9 and 4:3 screen ratios
-Converter lacks GUI
-Movies must be placed in the root
-Some sync problems may occur when switching video files
Motion Plotter 3/10
Simplistic drawing
It's surprising that you can find such entries in the NEOFlash
competition. There's no other use for this than draw colorful
lines with the d-pad or DSMotion. You're better off with pen and
paper though, believe me.
+Wraps around edges
-Only 8 directional drawing
-No save
DS-DOS 5/10
File manager
Unless you want to copy between slot-1 and slot-2 cards or you
really loved MS-DOS file browsing without Norton Commander
you'll want to skip this one. As it clones the style of MS-DOS
where every command has to be written and thus it's very slow to
control. If you just want to manage files on one card get
DSOrganize if you don't already have it.
+Copying between two carts
-No scrolling through the output
-Tries to launch any existing file as homebrew if no command was
entered
-CD command is broken
Flashcart OS: N 2.1 6/10
File browser
I don't see much use for this. Most flashcards already have a
filebrowser and this one isn't all that special anyway. Files
can't be accessed with stylus taps and scrolling up and down
using the d-pad is too fast. This makes for an awkward control
scheme where you select files with the stylus and launch them
with A. Also finding the file you want can be quite hard since
this program doesn't put the folders on top of the list. Maybe
if it at least had some kind of text reader or something.
+Skinnable
+Special button for Moonshell
+Boots homebrew
-D-pad up scrolls too fast
-Files aren't properly sorted
-Not particularly useful
-FAT errors happen time to time
Mediatheque 7.5/10
Database for your media
Pretty much the complete database application for any kind of
media you own. Allows for many information to be set for an
entry, there's even a „Lent to“ cell so you never lose track of
your precious bought stuff anymore. GUI could use some work
though.
+Good categorizing system
-Can't select movies from search
-Complicated information entry
-Overtransitioned
DSision 7.5/10
File browser
Nice looking file browser with clock on the top screen, what
more to ask for? Well maybe setting up the shortcuts right
inside DSision.
+Skin support
+Neat clock
+Docked menu style
+Runs homebrew quickly
+Can start GBA mode
-Settings only through an .ini file
Lowres directory icons.
TabBed 7.5/10
Guitar tabs viewer
If you play guitar and keep forgetting how all the chords are
this homebrew comes to the rescue. With a full blown chord
browser and finder you'll find the chord you need quickly and
easily. On top of that it sports a drum machine, guitar tab
reader and even a metronome. However when you want to load a tab
file you're presented with a very, very simple filebrowser that
isn't even alphabetically ordered and on top of that I have no
idea what kind of tab files to feed it.
+Reads guitar tabs
+List of chords along with chord finder
+Drum machine
-Drums samples are quiet
-Only mono MP3 files
-Minor sprite corruption
DSF 5/10
Brainf**k interpreter
I wasn't able to fully test this since I don't have any brainf**k
files but what this does is interpret the Turing machine.
+Nothing quite like it on the system
-Just an interpreter
-Files have to be entered manually, no filebrowser
DSBash 6.5/10
Quote reader
Definitely great if you like reading IRC quotes on the go. The
bash.org archive contains countless (around 850000 at the time
of writing) amount of short quotes for your geeky amusement.
This application allows you to read random, latest and specified
quotes which you can then save to Favo.txt on the root of your
flashcard.
+Reads Bash.org quotes
+Favorites can be saved
-GUI could use a makeover
-Needs a better font
-Requires external wifi settings
-Won't start up without wifi connection
JabberDS 7.5/10
Jabber client
Almost but not quite the perfect Jabber client. While it works
and has nifty features such as custom keyboard layout it's still
missing some. Namely chat history and file transfers. What also
puts it a bit down is the little unresponsive keyboard along
with the fact that it's impossible to change your connection
settings from within the application.
+Custom keyboard layouts
+Displays avatars
-Settings only through an .xml file
-Your password can be found in the XML file, unecrypted
-Keyboard misses quick taps
-No history
Wee Basic
Unreviewed |
|
) it can
also be used as a chord dictionary, chord finder, metronome, mp3 player
and a dum machine. See the documentation in the zip file for more
information on how it all works. 
