This year has seen quite a lot of interesting applications for the NeoFlash Spring Competition 2009 in the PlayStation Portable category. From website builders to even Rubik's Cube speed training applications there is definitely no shortage of fun here. We are going to check some of the interesting applications submitted for this years competition and give them all a good try out. Now, since we were speaking of Rubik's Cubes last, I do not see why we do not jump right into a review of HardHat's TimeTrainer application.
TimeTrainer v0.6 by Hardhat of TeamSushiSpeedcubing, or solving Rubik's Cubes as quickly as you can, has become one hell of a hobby. Almost everyone who surfs the internet now-a-days has seen a YouTube video of some kid solving a Rubik's Cube in mere seconds. What HardHat delivers here is an excellent application that aims to help those of you who happen to be speedcubers. I should also mention that, sportstacking is quite a popular hobby, as well, that can also benefit from using TimeTrainer. The application, first of all, mimics the SpeedStacks Competition Timer (
http://speedstacks.com/store/us/Timer.php ) though it one-ups the timer by being a free application and having more features. In order to start the timer you have to have both hands on the device (the PSP) just like the SpeedStacks Competition Timer. Once you press the L and R shoulder buttons simultaneously, the timer starts and you can begin solving your cube or sportstacking.
Now, some nifty features of TimeTrainer: One thing I really like is that you can save your averages into a .txt file. This is very cool especially if you want to review your times later or just see how you are progressing. Speaking of progressing, TimeTrainer also maps out your times on a graph!! So you can really see how much progression you have made thus far. One super big win, though, is that TimeTrainer includes 25-move randomly generated scrambles. There have been only one or two Rubik's Cube timing applications in the past and this one is the only one to have included all of these features AND scrambles for standard Rubik's Cubes. If you are a speedcuber you know that competitions use computer generated scrambles to scramble cubes with which makes this wickedly awesome.
Overall, TimeTrainer accomplishes what it aims to accomplish which is to be a useful timing application for speedcubers and sportstackers alike and goes the extra mile to incorporate interesting and useful features such as a time progression graph as well as randomly generated scrambles for Rubik's Cubes.
DAPESi by ShaolanYou cannot escape it. There is always that urge in you to doodle if you have the chance. I know that I always doodle on the margins of whatever paper happens to be in front of me and I am very sure most of the world does the same. Shaolan's DAPESi is actually an improved version of his older, DAPES, which ended at version 3.0.1. What it is is a program similar to the very familiar Microsoft Paint program. It offers, however, a much nicer interface than MS Paint does. Okay, so what is the goal of DAPESi? Well, first of all, DAPESi stands for "Drawing and Picture Editing Software Improved." From that alone, I am sure you can tell what it was meant to be. I say, "meant to be" because it does not fully live up to what its purpose is. It gives a nice wrapping but I found that to actually use the program was a bit of an inconvenience. One big thing that was missing is a README file. Though the basic controls may seem intuitive, going anywhere beyond doing some very basic doodling is very tough. For example, I found that the cursor movement was very slow and it was not until I held down the R-button by experimentation that I found that the cursor could actually move faster. Another thing is that I have no idea how to use the Open and Save functions. I tried hovering the cursor over the two options several times and pressing different buttons but I was never able to open anything nor did I get a pop-up or similar saying that my image was saved. Some instructions of some kind would have been nice.
Now, included with DAPESi is something called a Lua Widget Library. Here, again, is where a README file or at least intructions with Shaolan's submission would have been helpful because I have no idea what Lua Widget Library is for other than it "will allow you to make Graphics interface as simply as possible." Taking a quick look at the code in the Lua Widget Library's main.lua file, I expected to see a header with information about how to use it, etcetera but I did not find anything. Of course, I could have taken a look at the code itself but I was not interested enough to try to do so.
To be fair, DAPESi is an alpha release. Sure, Shaolan released it in a contest so I should judge it as if it were any other application, but the fact is it is an alpha. You cannot expect an apha release to have the same functionality that a beta release or above would have so it does earn back some credibility in that respect. I truly think that DAPESi seems to have potential, however, right now, it really does not do anything interesting. Again, a README file would have been nice and may have won it a little more usage time for this review.
pag3 by Pront0Who hasn't wanted to create their own website at one point or another? Or maybe we should look at it the other way and ask, "Who in the world doesn't have a website?" Okay, before you start naming a bunch of people, let's stay on track. I have always been fascinated with the idea of creating websites. I'm sure many people are so I do not have to go into why the idea is interesting. Now, creating websites is one thing but what if you could create a website... on your PSP?! Wouldn't that be amazing? Darn, I wish that was possible - whah? OH! WAIT! It IS possible! HOW? Well, thank Pront0! Pront0 is the creator of pag3, a "small but complex HTML editor for the PSP." What pag3 does is allow you to create your own website on your PSP. You don't even need to know HTML! You just lay out your page the way you want, save it, send it to your website (by first connecting your PSP to your computer and moving the project to your hard drive of course). It's actually a pretty interesting concept and works very well. I like how you never have to worry about typing up HTML because typing on the PSP is already a bit annoying as it is, so tpying up HTML would just make this whole idea very, very annoying.
I tried out a few simple pages and found that, once I transferred them to my computer(or I suppose you could also use the PSP's browser to check out the pages as well) that they looked exactly as they were on the PSP and displayed wonderfully. My only problem with the program is that it runs a bit slowly. That's really the only problem but it can be a big problem if you want to create a full-blown page. Also, it may be just that the program runs slowly but sometimes you have to click multiple times on buttons in order to have, for example, the PSP's On-Screen Keyboard come up.
The bottom line is that pag3 is a pretty nifty program. It is makes creating simple websites on your PSP very easy but I would not recommend it for more complexly structured sites. Also, there is a bit of a slow-down and delay when trying to access some functions but, otherwise, it works pretty well. I definitely recommend trying this out, though I hope it will see improvements to its speed in the future.
A few bits of sadness..First of all, Gefa's PSPDictionary sounds like a wonderful application to have! I really love the idea of translating words right from my PSP and even using wi-fi to use Google Translate. It certainly sounds like a great idea. My only problem, though, was that I was nunable to get it to run on my PSP. I tried putting it into my PSP/GAME, PSP/GAME4XX, and even PSP/GAME150 folder and it just would not work. For the former two folders all it did was return me to the XMB and when I put it into the PSP/GAME150 folder a black screen came up. So, though the application has an interesting premise, I am sad to say I cannot tell you that it really is awesome. pspflashsystem's prxutility++ did not ave me that sameproblem, but rather, gave me the problem of not being able to download it at all. I tried the link he gave several times but it never worked so, again, I am sad to say, I cannot tell you whether that application was awesome or not. Another interestign application that I could not try out was downPSP by carlosgs. This one was mostly my fault, however (as with all of these), because I could not try it out due to the fact that my wi-fi has not been working properly these last few days. It certainly has a nice interface and I like where it is going, but without a proper wi-fi connection I was completely unable to test this promising application out.
NOTE: Some applications aside from those noted in the last segment ere not included. This is not because I did not feel they were interesting but rather, because I have run out of time to try them all and have to conclude my reviews with what I have here. Also, I do recommend that everyone give all of the applications a try, regardless of my opinions or troubles so you can form your own opinion as to which application deserves top honors.
