App Aims: The Big Ka-Boom

Reviewer’s Comments
At first glance one may wonder what the purpose of this app is, actually at second glance you still may be wondering what the point is….but just try it. The boom or explosion displayed by Sonic Boom is not as exciting as you might imagine but exploring the debris is peculiarly engaging. The app, with the support of the unique interactive screen, allows you to zoom in and circle around the burning debris and the oddly entrancing glowing embers, orange flames and grey puffs of smoke. And the display goes on for quite a while; we didn’t time it but it seemed to be never ending.

One of the most interesting features of this phone is its use of Google maps. If you tap on the globe in the tool bar, the entire earth pops up and you can watch explosions go off all over the planet set off by other Sonic Boom users. So you can feel a sense of odd camaraderie with other humans across the planet that like to see things go boom. It looks almost like a world-wide fireworks show.

In iTunes this app is categorized in “productivity,” we can’t figure out why because it seems to just entrance you and stop you from being productive entirely.

This app will not help you get organized, it will not increase your dexterity and it cannot edit your photos, but it can certainly keep you spellbound, for reasons that are difficult to explain. This Smule app is not free, but 99 cents is a small investment for ad-free entertainment. However, this game would be much more exciting if it actually let you blow “things” up instead of just a simple firecracker.

Check out our iPhone 3G review, music and movie download reviews as well as our other App reviews to help you get the most out of your iPhone. We've also reviewed Smule's Sonic Lighter app and you may be interested to see what else they can do with fire.