After discovering what great apps are out there when reviewing my first five, I came across these other amazing apps. These new apps vary from fast sport reporting, to social networking and gaming. Check them out.

ESPN Score Center

Some nights after a long day of baseball and school I get home and want to know how the professional athletes did. The thing that stops me is the homework factor. I have to go on my computer and check the scores, or turn on my television. These both distract me a great deal, and are sure to distract most of my readers. For people like us, who can’t focus when trying to start homework, you can download the ESPN Score Center App. The app allows the user to enter any of the teams they wish to follow per season, or even year round. The application updates instantly 24/7. The apps layout is decent, and includes a crawl feature on the bottom that mentions sports information from the duration of the day. The crawl is a nice touch, but the layout has some problems. Hopefully the developers will see the flaws in the design. The different columns that a user is able to swipe through don’t have the proper flow to them. Most apps page elements have a nice touch flow when you swipe them that is easy to use. The columns in this ESPN application don’t do this, they just stop. The stopping makes it difficult to see information at the bottom of the screen. This application gets a 7 out of 10. The organization needs to be reviewed.

Red Laser
A lot of smartphone and tablet users do not use their device for practical purposes. This is most likely because they didn’t know they could. Most only use them for games and social networking. While searching through the Utilities category of the app store I found Red Laser. This app is a nice tool to have on hand when comparing prices, or trying to find a product similar to one you are interested in. The application uses the camera to scan barcodes, and search for the product online. After tracking down the product, it is then compared to other prices of the aforementioned product. The application also scans QR codes on products, or on advertisements. After scanning the application brings people to the same page that it does for barcodes. This app gets a 10 out of 10. Its performance blew my mind by how fast and easily it can compare different items. You’ve gotta have this app.

CheckPoints
Scavenger hunts have evolved quite a bit from an instructional map to the surprising platform of tablets, and smartphones. The scavenger hunt I’m speaking of isn’t the traditional kind that we went on when we were younger. It’s one that incorporates Facebook’s check-in capability, as well as Red Laser. The app has different locations that you can check into for points, and coins. Some of the checkpoints can even be found in your own home. The best part of this app is that with points you can purchase products, or donate money. This application is free of cost, and is helping out others. This receives a 9 out of 10 for the lack of products, which may be correlated to a small number of sponsors. This application is amazing, so I don’t see why they are unable to find sponsors. They just need to get out there and find people with too much money and nowhere to put it.

Bump
The irritating task (when networking) of exchanging contact information has been eliminated by this application. The app allows a smartphone user to literally bump their phone with another mobile device. The app has the ability to share certain information. The information necessary in creating a contact. The app also allows picture sharing. The app does not utilize the advantage they have of being on an infinite platform such as a mobile device. The layout is sloppy, and congested. It is also difficult to read the information presented by the application. This gets a 9/10.

Draw Something
For those hardcore Pictionary aficionados there is now a way to play their favorite game on the go. This game is a combination of hangman and people’s artistic abilities. The point of the game is to guess what your opponent has drawn on the mobile device’s touch screen. To make an evaluation of the picture, and to win the game you must do so, you need to analyze two key components: the picture being drawn, and the amount of letter spaces available. By supplementing these two together a player can formulate a guess or the correct answer. This app gets a 10 out of 10 for being a creative and fun application.