App review: Spb Online

Price: $29.95
More info: www.spbsoftwarehouse.com
Verdict: 8

Spb Online is a software based content portal that provides access to TV, radio, news (through RSS feeds), weather and various downloads through a single interface. It is the interface that makes a good first impression, the graphics and layout give it instant appeal. On offer is a selection of 3D buttons which are big enough to tap with a finger or if you want to keep your screen clean a stylus.

Delving under the hood, users get to choose from TV, Radio, News, Weather, Shop, Games Ringtones and Themes, reveals some very neat features. The standout option for us is TV. The channel options may be a little lame, but it does include Sky News, Nasa TV, Eurosport and a collection of foreign language channels. Select a channel, need to be connected to the Web, hit the play button and the screen automatically changes orientation to give full screen viewing.

The quality is hardly hi-def, but is perfectly adequate for small screen viewing. Radio works in much the same vein, select a station and listen. Plus, there is the option to add hundreds more stations. News includes channels from Gizmodo, Gawker, TechCrunch and Spb’s own news feed. Weather is a simple solution that offers details of the chosen location. The remaining choices, Shop, Games, Ringtones and Themes are all far more commercial. And quite annoyingly, all trying to sell the user something.

However, we do have to give credit to the free games, we spent hours online playing checkers.

Popularity: 2% [?]