AppDate: Simple road reporting solution

In this AppDate issue, SEAN BACHER highlights JRA Find&Fix, SimCity 4, Tuluntulu and 9 free games for Nokia Lumia phones.

JRA Find&Fix

The JRA Find&Fix app lets South African smartphone users report road problems on the spot. When users finds a pothole, broken robot or missing manhole, they launch the app, enter a brief description and have the option of taking a photo. They can also simply click the appropriate icon and hit send. The app automatically logs the GPS co-ordinates, which are included with the report when sent to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA). It is then up to the JRA to dispatch a team to sort out the problem.

Platform: Android. The app will be available on iOS at the end of May.

Stockists: Visit the Google Play Store.

Expect to pay: A free download.

SimCity 4

Start off by building a power plant, a few roads and zones for citizens to live, and watch as a city starts to expand. Within a few hours, players will have a decent-sized city, but that’s when things become a little tricky. Players will have to manage everything from taxes to air pollution – and that is just the beginning. The more a city grows, the more nurturing it needs and the more complicated the game becomes. It is, however, a great feeling when you have built a city with over 100 000 happy citizens without using any of the cheats. Yes, there are endless sites that provide them. SimCity 4 boasts great graphics and lets users listen to songs in their iTunes library while playing.

Platform: PC and Mac.

Stockists: www.simcity.com

Expect to pay: R290

Tuluntulu

Tuluntulu delivers around ten TV channels with content ranging from international news to African documentaries, delivered directly to a smartphone or tablet. The Tuluntulu app uses rate-adaptive technology, which means that it adapts to the available bandwidth, allowing videos to be streamed at speeds as low as 50kbps. It automatically adjusts the picture quality to minimise buffering times and data costs. Video is streamed for free, but it is recommended that users watch footage over Wi-Fi as data costs will be incurred.

Platform: Android.

Stockists: Visit www.tuluntulu.com

Expect to pay: A free download.

9 free games for Nokia Lumia phones

Nokia Lumia users now have nine new Windows Mobile games. They are from Gameloft and are especially designed for Lumia devices. The games include: Asphalt 7: Heat, Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, Brain Challenge, Earthworm Jim, Let’s Golf 2, Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, N.O.V.A. 3, Order & Chaos Online, and Shark Dash. They can be played on the Lumia 625, 1020, 1320 and 1520 models. All of the games are full Xbox titles, with working achievements.

Platform: Nokia Lumia devices running Windows Phone 8 and above.

Stockists: Visit the Nokia Collections store.

Expect to pay: Free downloads, but with in-app purchases.

* Sean Bacher is editor of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter on @SeanBacher