Whether it’s an unplanned business trip to another city or a vacation you have been planning for your family, traveling to a new destination can be challenging from the very first minute you land there if you do not have a an accommodation. Finding an accommodation can be really frustrating when there is a unplanned change in your trip and the hotels keep driving you crazy with apologies and “no vacancy” message.

ToucHotel iPhone not just lets you find an accommodation but also lets you choose from the hotels based on your preferences. To start with you just need to enter or choose your city, specify the dates and number of guests. We tried it with location services enabled and strict filters for services offered within app. ToucHotel did not disappoint us rather we were amazed to see the wide number of choices offered along with sorting based on distance, price, and popularity. All the results carry details like hotel name, location, distance from current location, occupancy, price, rating and availability details. You can elaborate the details by tapping on a hotel to check short summary of hotel and its features, pictures of their rooms, services and amenities. You can also view the location of the hotel or multiple hotels on the map which can be helpful when you want to choose a hotel based on its location and route from a specific point.

ToucHotel gives you the ability to book rooms without leaving the app. You can follow the standard booking procedure to choose the type of room from the list and enter your check in and checkout times along with credit card details to confirm your booking. Usually bookings are not charged and payable at hotel itself but credit card may be charged in case of a no-show or if a cancellation is not made within available timeline. All other details regarding cancellations are mentioned and the cancellations are not charged before the specific timeline.

ToucHotel is a truly amazing app you should take along on your next trip or just help you plan and book accommodation for your business clients or guests. ToucHotel is fairly simple and beautiful in terms of design to offers you a smooth and friendly experience during the use.

It’s hard to argue over the price and convenience the app has to offer you. Take a trial of the app with the test booking option that shows you how easy it is to book a room for a pleasant stay.
ToucHotel is available for both iPhone & iPad.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: ToucHotel – Hotels, Hotel Reservation
App Category: Travel
Price: Free
Developer: UserFans

Music is probably one thing we all love to consume on our iPhone’s and iPod’s but despite the huge while also limited memory capacity of your device you might not always be able to carry the whole world of your music favourites on your long vacation. Well if you are found of Indian music and have seamless connectivity to internet, “Saavn” is the app you must be looking for.

Saavn brings you the hottest music to your iOS device. With hundreds of tracks added every week Saavn is a strong contender and stands in the app store top lists for music category in India, UK, Pakistan, US, Canada, Singapore, UAE, and more.

Saavn iPhone app has three main sections- Saavn (main screen), Player and Search. The main screen of the app brings you ‘new releases’ which will include latest albums and movie songs, it also lets you access featured playlists that can be fun to explore new music and find the music by type, say  by an artist,  actor, occasion or a genre.  From the main screen you will also be able to manage your playlists by logging into the saavn.com account which saves your playlists and lets you manage them from multiple devices and thus keeps your favourites in sync. We expect to see this feature extend to the web version soon.

A lot of times i have desperately desired to listen to a song on my mind but all i ended up is purchasing the whole album on iTunes or streaming it via YouTube when i just want to listen, not watch. But no more would you do the same again; just scroll up on the main screen and you will have a search box readily available. Search results will be available either as songs or playlists in a tabbed manner. You will be able to see the album art, album name, and song name while you scroll down to find the appropriate one or tap on one of them to get more details. But if you instantly want to listen to wonderful songs, just head to the “weekly top 15” or “surprise me” which will add the latest hits or all time hit songs to your current playlist by seeking your permission and you are ready without much of playing around with the app.

Saavn is not just about finding your favourite music and listening to it for free but also streaming via live radio will be available in multiple regional languages soon. The settings in the app give you option to choose your language authenticate facebook sharing and manual sharing via Twitter, Facebook, email and sms and even adjusting your audio quality. Saavn tries to adjust to your current internet bandwidth but if you have a slow connection and your songs keep breaking you can change the audio quality to the best preferred level by choosing between low, medium and high via the settings menu and thus improve your music listening experience.

Saavn is a great experience both on the web and mobile. The UI gives an elegant look and is easy to navigate while enjoying to your favourite songs. Moreover Saavn is available for free and there nothing that should stop you from trying it.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Saavn
App Category: Music
Price: Free
Developer: Saavn

If you are one who takes care of day to day financial expenses of your dependents or just like to keep on an eye on every cent spent from your pocket, you have definitely had your luck with the panoply of finance apps available on app store. But if you still find the experience cumbersome, do have a look at iCanSpend for iPhone.

“iCanSpend” is a simple yet complete app for managing your day to day and month to month expenses. Whether they are expenditures, payments, refunds or a payday, iCanSpend takes care of all your financial needs be it small or big.

The best part about iCanSpend is not what it offers, but the way it presents it to you. The homescreen of the app has a nicely designed dashboard where you can add what you spend with spending button, add your earnings or received payments with “paying” button. Both your spending and paying can have a category or type which can be manually added or chosen from previously added categories each time you make an addition. Each addition is accompanied by sound effects that add a bit of realism in the app. You can alternatively add new expenses, payments received and refunds via voice input too. You just need to tap the microphone button at the centre and speak out the amount followed by the type/category.  Well, what we liked even more was the Undo button which can correct your last mistake. The dashboard gives you a nice paper-pad look where on the top you will be able to see your current balance and the last transaction with retro pen-style fonts.

At any point, you can also access the past expenses or the complete history which includes payments, refunds and expenses sorted by date of occurrence. The app currently supports three currencies namely dollar , euro and pound and is available in English(US/AU/UK), French, Italian, German and Spanish.

iCanSpend is not an innovative app but the support for voice commands and simplistic yet beautiful UI is a great deal for just 99 cents. For anyone looking forward to sync or export their financial details may not be convinced by the functionality of iCanSpend, for others this is an app to greatly improve the experience of expense management on your iPhone.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: iCanSpend
App Category: Finance
Price: $0.99
Developer: Matthew Aitken

Banker’s vs. Humans is a fun casual game. The game starts with a short story where mad protesters chase the bankers . You can play either as a banker or a human with four different roles – slick banker, fat trader, intellectual or a hippie in the game.

You will find yourself chased by protesters, if you play as a banker. You jump off the plane to avoid those crazy protestors but they still chase you for no good. Your ultimate aim is to get promoted and rich. Alternatively if you play as a protester you face similar challenges but you will be chasing the bankers to stop another bank cause damage and ultimately get promoted as president and also get rich while doing so.

During your fall from the plane you will be equipped with a parachute which will help you land safely on the ground. But that doesn’t mean things are as easier as they seem, you will face a multitude of challenges that obstruct your way and crash land you based on the type of role you choose to play. A SEC investigation official in the air, barbed wires, lightening in the clouds, protestor throwing boards at you, handcuffs, crazy jets that can damage your parachute, protestors in hot air balloons trying to snatch your cash and even worse  missiles.  Most of the challenges try to break you parachute which leave you freely falling and risk the loss of life but if you collect variety of gadgets available in the air like rocket launcher, jet-pack, golden parachute and many more, you can not only defend and recover from damages but also backfire over the protesters and save you money from their greedy intentions.  You clear a level and get promoted to next only when you safely land on the board your supporters are holding for you to land.

As you are promoted to higher levels the opposition gets even aggressive in their attacks and you will need a huge array of gadgets and quick reflexes to stand their attacks and obstructions in way. You can buy any new gadget by visiting the shop section using the coins earned in the game.  The coins collected and gadgets purchased are locked to the role, say they cannot be unlocked by the slick banker and used by an intellectual. The four profiles are maintained separately with the auto saving of progress in the game. There’s also a trophy section that aggregates your achievements if any to show them in a wooden shelf similar to a newsstand.

What we liked the most about Bankers vs. Humans is its wonderful story line thats fun and addicting while they go hand in hand with each other. The graphics are very well crafted and so are the expressions of characters and sound effects. Playing Bankers vs. Humans was a real fun on both iPhone and iPad. And yes it is really fast paced and challenging game that’s fun to play with the smooth tilt controls.

What the developer says about the game: “DISCLAIMER: This game is not to be taken seriously at all. The plot line is a total joke. It is very fast paced! Your heart will race! Greed is not good. Lunch is for wimps. Hold your device tightly ’cause the game relies on tilting!”.

For just 99 cents, it’s a delicious cake you would love to have every day when you are free or stressed.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Bankers vs. Humans
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: Neuchâtel Ltd.

The first impressions of gravity force will remind you all the fun you had tilting and shaking your device with labyrinth but playing more and more of it over time makes you realise the game is quite different from labyrinth and the challenges you come across the various levels in the game.

Gravity Force as the same suggests blends the interesting concept of gravitational force with varying intensities experienced on different planets. Your aim is to take the ball into the cup at the bottom of the screen. The game comes with three stages or planets namely the Earth, Moon and Jupiter. Due to the extraordinary difference between the gravitational forces on each planet you will come across unique challenges in each stage. The game does not include pot holes, rather has escape paths in higher levels from where the ball can be lost to space and thus you will need to start from scratch again.  Within the game you will also come across challenges like rotating objects, unstable hooked platforms, unhooked objects that are free to move in space but may also block the way of ball.

With this physics game you will face a multitude of challenges that include changing parameters in each level and playing over new planets which changes the tilt sensitivity and response of your ball. Thus the tricks that work on one planet may not necessarily be useful on other planets and will experience a level in a completely new way.

No matter what you are doing and using your hands for, Gravity Force is fairly easy to understand and play by just holding you iPhone in one hand whenever you have got a free moment or just play to beat one of your previous high scores for hours together. Gravity Force is available in fully featured free version with 36 levels in 3 unique stages and totally worth looking at.

.Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Gravity Force
App Category: Games
Price: Free
Developer: Siemens AG

Hopping and jumping over the obstacles, reaching you destination and collecting lot of goodies on your way is all what the new casual game Pop N’ Slide is about.  Popper the Penguin got the munchies and finds his refrigerator empty. Now that Popper is starving and willing to have fishes, you need to guide him in collecting them while passing through various locations like frozen mountains, ice caves, forests, the city and even the clouds.

With a blast from the igloo Popper runs out to fulfill his appetite. Hungry popper puts in every effort you guide him for by jumping over slippery ice platform to standing the storm. Every fish Popper eats adds to your score as rewards, you also earn score for the distance covered. Popper loves to eat some fishes over the others, thus collecting the Golden fish earns around x10 the score to the regular blue fishes. The real challenge is collecting as many as fishes you can without falling of the platform and reaching back to your igloo to build it bigger each time.

Pop N’ Slide is a really fast paced game; you will need to be on tip of your fingers if not toes in the game. Quick reflexes and skills are the real assets you need to have for the game. The game comes with unlimited number of levels with randomly generated challenges which means you would never be playing against the same challenges you have seen earlier. This really builds the challenging nature of the game with the increasing difficulty as you advance to higher levels.

Completing levels in the game is also accompanied by objectives which need to be achieved to upgrade Poppers igloo to his dream ice castle. Head back to the igloo section from the main screen or just pause the current game to see all the objectives and their competition status.

Pop N’ Slide is a fun casual game with the perfect balance of easy to use and responsive one touch controls, well done graphics and animation that bring the game to life and cute sound effects and music you will enjoy and even laugh during the gameplay.

Pop N’ Slide is available for just 99 cents but totally worth it price and supports a huge array of devices to let you keep up with the fun from anywhere in your leisure time.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Pop N’ Slide
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: Rhodesware

If you have been an active gamer in the mid 90’s you probably were one of those who spent their most of their time playing Shoot ‘em up by skipping meals, staying back home by making a good health excuse during schooling just to beat the boss stage and get to the next exciting level.  Space Retro brings the same original fun with old style pixelated graphics and evil enemies that are aggressively against your progress.

Space Retro comes with 5 unique stages, 10 missions and multitude of enemies that offer a highly challenging and addictive gameplay. The game adds to the fun with bonus levels and boss levels in each stage. You start with the most basic powers and can later buy weapon upgrades as you advance to higher levels with stronger opponents. You will have 3 lives to win the game , without being hit by opponents weapons. Though you can get more space ships by sacrificing your score but doing too much of it can take your score in negative values. We did achieve some negative scores in our initial gaming sessions but that’s how the game makes a really challenging appearance on your phone. Every achievement gives you rewards and is shown up in the achievement section with its type and unlock level. Achievements and worldwide highscores can be a good reason you would love to play each level over and over again

You can buy and upgrade you weapons by visiting the shop to load more destructive weapons on your space ship. These weapons can be re-upgraded a specific number of times to increase their effectiveness and power.

You can turn on the tutorial hints which are shown each time you start your level and thus reading a tutorial is not long and boring activity you would try escaping.

Missing all the fun you had when you were a kid? Space Retro brings back the same fun and unique challenges on your iPad

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Space Retro
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: Pundora Studios

While i always had a desire to take notes on my first windows based touchscreen smartphone but due to hardware and software limitation like screen size and scarcity of apps it was never even close to possible to use my smartphone for study. But this limitation is just a past tense now. There are lot of wonderful apps on the app store that can help you accomplish your needs. But most of the apps are either too much into drawing and painting or lack many essential features that make a good e-Notebook.

eNotebook iPad app from WeLearn Educational Software LLC packs the power and practical usability together to bring a fully fledged educational notes taking apps. With eNotebook you can turn your iPad into a study center. Right from taking notes, managing them, reusing them for reference and additions, sharing them or saving in the cloud; eNotebook does it all in an efficient way.

eNotebook when opened shows up all the categories/titles/subjects in grid view and you can later add as many categories as you like. You can add and edit notes within each category and also import your notes if any from the your DropBox account. Not only can you work with plain text notes but also DOC, PPT, and PDF file formats, you will be able to write annotations, highlight text and add notes or use free hand drawing. Along with a pencil, the app also offers a eraser, highlighter and copy/paste selction. You can quickly switch to next page of the notes with a swipe or using navigational buttons. The reader buttons keeps the document read only while choosing the writer option makes the document writable using the pen. The ability to toggle between reading and writing modes is very appealing since it allows users to preserve fresh copies of all documents they bring in to the app.  The Undo and Redo options are the real buddies when using free hand drawing in any app, eNotebook does have a unlimited undo/redo on unsaved documents. A new note can be created within the reader or writer section by using the “Add” button and can have a page style say Lined,  grid, plain and color choices between white and yellow. You can also share your most important notes with friends via email or just take a print for studying on paper.

The app may not be easy to use in the first few sessions, moreover the navigation is not impressive. First time users can take a look at the tutorials of eNotebook on youtube to understand the navigation and structure of app to quickly get a hang of it.

eNotebook is undoubtedly a wonderful notes taking app for students and professionals but if you are looking for basic note taking, you may find eNotebook a little over featured and pricy. For the rest of its part i does what it is meant to in a beautiful way.

Video Demo :

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: eNotebook
App Category: Productivity
Price: $4.99
Developer: WeLearn Educational Software LLC