5 End Of The World Apps For Android
On December 21st 2012, the world as we know it will come to an end. It will probably get a brand new interface that is compatible with touch screens.
I think that most people have now been successfully convinced that this is another Internet fueled hype that will go down on a Wikipedia page for us all to look back on and laugh.
I decided to have a look in the Play store for apps that compliment the big day. I simply did a search “end of the world 2012″. There were some irrelevant apps that came up like Elastic World. But here are 5 2012 apocalypse apps for your Android device:
1) Apocalypse 2012 – End of Days
Developer: KOOLAPPZ
Price: £0.85
Download Here
This came up second on the list of search results. It was basically an App form of a book that explains the origins of the famous date, looking at prophecies of many people and civilizations.
I decided not to download it to test as it was not free and I saw enough from the screen shots and description. If you are interested in finding out where the beliefs came from, I guess this would be a very interesting read. A lot cheaper than the actual book no doubt.
2) End of the World 2012
Developer: WidLab
Price: Free
Download Here
This is the more interesting of the apps. It is a game! It is free so I downloaded it to my Nexus 7 to try it out. My excitement came to an end when I started playing it. The description also describes it as a “micro game”.
The aim of the game is to destroy the Mayan calendar to not let the prophecies come true. There are three modes: Best Speed, Best Time and Best Rotation. On each one, you simply use your finger to spin the calendar. You must get a score that get all three tokens on each level to complete the game.
That is it. Getting the tokens seems a bit random. You have no idea what sort of score you have to be aiming towards. You have to keep trying harder and harder until eventually you beat the game. Also, if you spin anti-clockwise, the words “Magic Rotation” appear, with no explanation as to what it means. It doesn’t seem to impact the game at all!
Although it is a very short lived game, it is quite an interesting concept but will only keep you occupied for about 15 minutes before you either get bored or finish the game.
I am not sure what happens when you finish the game, I was unable to complete the Best Time one. No matter how long it kept going (16 seconds seemed like a long time), I was unable to get a single token. Maybe if I knew what I needed, I would have persevered.
3) Mayan 2012 Doomsday LWP
Developer: Indiana Jones Design
Price: £0.62
Download Here
There were a lot of predictable countdown widgets and for me this one stood out from the rest.
This was a widget and a live wallpaper. It changes the wall paper into a cool looking Mayan calendar. When you pressed it, it spins around to reveal the countdown timer.
It had very nice sound effects which can be turned off by the settings.
According the description an HD version is on the way. But with less than a week to go, I don’t think it is worth the release now.
The developer made a video of how it which I embedded below.
4) Doomsday 2012 Survival
Developer: Sleeping Lab
Price: Free
Download Here
Another game. This one also was free so I thought I would try it out.
Very basic and not worth the time. You answer 5 questions and a percentage score is calculated to let you know whether you will survive Doomsday or not.
That is it. The questions are quite silly. This reminds me of one of those old school Facebook apps that would then post the result on your Facebook wall. To be honest, this is where it belongs.
You also put a username and it ranks you with all the other users. There is only a list of the top 20. I am not sure how it works since there are only 5 questions and probably only 5 different percentages.
5) 2012 Last Message
Developer: Targamy
Price: Free
Download Here
This app is basically there for you to write a message that will be read after the end of the world.
My first problem was that after opening that app, I found it very difficult to read the explanation at the top. The writing was white and just in front of the main title, which was part of the background image and also white.
It claims that the message will be stored for free in a secure bunker in a “black box” which will survive the end of the world. Whilst I appreciate the thought, I highly doubt that this is true. Particularly since the whole thing is free! The developers must be fairly confident that the world will not end and therefore this black box will never be needed.
When typing the message, I found that the box was not big enough to see my message. It looked like there was a character limit but actually the cursor was still typing out of view.
When I submitted, I was presented with a screen that showed as scroll with my message. Once again, part of an explanation was covered. All I could see was “message also by SMS for free” followed by more details. Basically, they claim that if you log into Facebook and post “its” (a person apparently) telephone number, they will send this message a few minutes before the end of the world. Again for free? Very suspicious. I am not putting my Facebook details or phone number into this app! Also found another grammar mistake underneath where it said “Other skip this step”.
All in all, a very tacky app. The idea had potential but it was poorly executed. A better app would be one that simply shared to social media sites or perhaps posted to their own website where you could see all of the messages from other users.
So there you have it. Most of the apps don’t seem well built or very interesting. I found that they were mainly built by amateurs.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and good luck on December 21st ;-)!