4 Pics 1 Word (What's the Word) - The new must have app?

The app ‘Whats the Word – 4 Pics 1 Word’ has taken smartphone owners by storm and looks to be the one to watch in the coming weeks.

But can it maintain it's popularity, similar apps such as Logos Quiz and Draw Something were similarly very popular at first, rising to the top of the app store and sitting there for weeks, however as time passed, they crept slowly down the chart, until 6 months later, they were almost forgotten about.

The difference here is that could 4 Pics 1 Word have learnt from the others mistakes?

Errors such as lack of updates, or updates that slow down the app (such as the introduction of too many ads), or selling out have been problematic for apps in the past, time will tell if that's what will happen here. However, it's already looking promising as developers of the game LOTUM GmbH have already hinted at regular updates and have indeed stuck to their word by bringing out a new update just a week or so after it's rise to fame, however it does have one flaw that is frustrating players, you are unable to move on from the word you are on until you complete it, that's it, if you don't know it you are stuck at that stage forever, regardless of how many times you turn your phone on and off again!

But maybe this game has luck, already it is being helped along un-knowingly by the slather of '4 Pics 1 Word Answer Sites' that it has brought about. A weird cycle has been created where they now actually need each other.

People need the answers to carry on playing and carry on playing because the have the answers.

So a bit of background: to put it simply, a rise in puzzle apps for smartphones has seen a direct link with a rise in cheat sites for these apps - we like to cheat as this article explains.

              Direct link between a rise in answer
                          sites and a rise in puzzle app popularity

This 4 Pics 1 Word gives everything it has to cheating, it is a difficult game, some of the answers are near on impossible to guess. It also doesn't have hints (unless you want to pay, which most people don't). The app even encourages you to cheat with a 'share on facebook' button allowing you to post the images to facebook and ask for help with the answer from your friends.
It was just a matter of time before the cheat sites came along, in fact it was no time at all, before hundreds of spammy sites with the domain name 'whatstheword' or '4pics1word' came along to try and make a quick buck from this apps popularity. These spammy sites again managed to make their way to the top of Google regardless of whether they had the answers up or not (they for the most part didn't).

But how do these answer sites help the app? As the recent press release put out about it states 'With the cheat sites becoming a helpful Robin to the Batman that is the 4 Pics 1 Word app and allowing for players to move up levels even when they don’t know the answers'. It's basically saying that these sites are making players stick with the game instead of giving up on it because if they can find just that one answer that they are stuck on, then they can carry on to the next level.

For now it's the next big thing in gaming and puzzle apps, until the next simple word/picture game comes along, the app is available for both iOS and Android and can be downloaded from the Apple App store here or Google Play here.

Happy Birthday Android

This week Android turns 4, and while most kids that age have not yet learnt how to read or even count, Android is way ahead of the class and holding 75% of the smartphone operating system market, making it the world's biggest smartphone OS! No mean feat for a 4 year old!

How has it got there, avid iOS fans may be wondering? It's because Android cater to the everyday man. Not the showoffy, egomaniatical iPhone users, not the 'we are to business focused to have fun' Blackberry crowd, no, Android have placed themselves nicely in the middle of the market with its army of budget handsets, open source app market, and the ability to keep up with moving technological trends. But beware, with a birthday in November, their starsign is Scorpio and my my do they have a sting in their tail! Now that they've successfully settled into their niche, Android are on the attack!

The attack planning started in 2008, since then Android has been improving their operating system with numerous updates, listening to their consumers and adding new features and fixing bugs. Each update release is named in alphabetical order after a desert or sugary treat for example, Cupcake, Donut and Ice-Cream Sandwich (good luck finding a dessert beginning with 'X Android!).

Androids newest update
is Jelly Bean 

Androids latest offering JellyBean is fast and powerful, and with better hardware becoming available such as the Google Nexus or Samsung Galaxy which have better specs but yet are much cheaper than an iPhone,  it could becoming more appealing to even the most hardened of Apple fans, who might just get a bit sick and tired of having to sleep rough for a week outside an Apple shop just to get a handset that can't tell you where the nearest coffee shop is properly (referring to the terrible iOS 6 maps here). It would not be a surprise to see Google and Android increase their lead in this market even further in the next year.

The advantage of the open source app market (the Google Playstore) to Androids OS rankings is not always talked about, but does have an impact. The closed off iOS appstore makes it harder and harder for developers to create innovative and fresh applications, as they will likely be rejected, so they turn to the Android, to their laid-back, anything goes attitude. This will have a knock on effect, with Android having better applications being made for them (yes there will be lots of terrible ones in there too), and these apps will contribute to an all round better OS.

If you have read other parts of this blog you'll know I am the owner of www.logoquizanswers.com, the comprehensive answers and cheat website for the Logos Quiz app. We fully support Android, and actually are one of the only cheat websites to do this (the others almost all solely focus on iOS only).  Check out how much we love Android Logo Quizzes. This also brings up a good point again about the advantage of the Google Playstore. For every one brilliant app for iPhone, there will be 10 in the Playstore, giving the end user more choice, variety and ultimately a better end experience.

For those interested in the breakdown percentage of the OS market and how the other brands such as Apple and Blackberry are doing, here is a lovely pie-chart to sum it up for you. As you can see, Android is dominating by a long shot!

Good for you Android, and Happy Birthday!

And yes, I know how much I moaned about Google in my last post, this still stands, however they don't half make a good operating system! For reference only, I own and use an iPhone.