Review: I want to be a Pirate
Score:
70%
Smartphone apps aren't just for grown-ups, as Genera Mobile have set out to prove. Their range of interactive books in the Ovi Store could be just what the younger generation need. So it's time to go all Jackanory here on AAS and look at one of their books... "I want to be a Pirate."
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What's not to love about a title like "I want to be a Pirate?". Exactly. I'm sold already. Just because this is an interactive story book, aimed at children, doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it!
Targeting applications like this at the younger generation is a smart move, especially as Symbian devices are pushed into the lower reaches of the market and devices like the Nokia C5 are as good as free on a Pay as you Go contract. With the summer holidays in full swing, long car journeys, plane flights, and train expeditions leave a lot of opportunities for the smaller passengers to get bored. So throw them a story on Mum or Dad's phone... that's another thirty minutes of peace and quiet on the M6 sorted!
So what have Genera Mobile got in store for us here?
In essence, a children's book on a phone. Rather than physical pages, the arrows at the bottom of the screen will flip through to the next page of the story. While the icons might be quite small (but perfectly serviceable) for my fingers, the target audience shouldn't have any problems.
This is of course a bit more than a story book flip chart, it's interactive. Each page has a sound effect to go along with it, as well as the story being read out by a young narrator. Thankfully these can be individually switched off, because these audio samples are on a loop, and while a four year old may love to hear "I want to be a Pirate!" shouted out a phone 27 times in a row, it may cause the parents to become... frustrated.
I'll also point out the narrator has an American accent, which may or may not be a deal breaker for some people. (Engage international diplomacy mode - Ed)
What is a deal breaker is the question of "is there a pirate/sea shanty?". The good news to this is that the answer is yes, and while I'm not going to spoil the story for you, this is as good a pre-school kids story as I've seen in the shops. Okay, it's not as much of a classic as "Big Daft Fish" but it should hold the attention for multiple readings of the book. And at £1, it's great value when compared to physical book prices.
It does mean handing over a phone to your younger family members, and a nice pair of headphones would be a smart investment for in the car, but Genera have delivered exactly what they promised - an interactive fiction book, for children, on your smartphone.
And I still want to be a pirate.
-- Ewan Spence, August 2011.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at