Billy Tompson: App reviews: Tiny Tower, The Open Championship, Songify and more

Hands on with the best new smartphone and tablet apps

Thousands of new apps are released every day for smartphones and tablets, although the vast majority sink without trace. Here is our selection of reviews from apps released in the last fortnight that are worth checking out.

Tiny Tower

iPhone, iPad, free
Freemium game Tiny Tower comes from the same developer as iOS hit Pocket Frogs, and is even more addictive. The aim of the game is to build a skyscraper packed with apartments and businesses, making enough money from both to continue adding new floors. The pixel-art graphics are full of character, and there are bags of humorous touches to the gameplay ?�the fake Facebook status updates from your residents is a favourite. You can play happily for free, but in-app purchases of virtual currency can speed up your progress.

The Open Championship 2011

iPhone, Android, free
The R&A's iOS app was an excellent way to follow The Open last year, and this time round it's been joined by an Android version too. There are plenty of live statistics to keep you posted on the players' progress, with live video streaming during the tournament too. There are plenty of people surreptitiously checking the leaderboard on their work computers this week, but the app is well worth downloading for when you're away from your desk.

Foursquare for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7, free
Social location service Foursquare is available on near enough every smartphone, and while most attention gets focused on its iPhone and Android incarnations, its recently revamped Windows Phone 7 app is perhaps the slickest of the lot. It fits well into Microsoft's WP design guidelines, as you swipe your way between check-ins and information on venues near your current location. There is plenty of data to explore, but assuming you're out with friends, its best feature is the ability to quickly check in without having to spend several anti-social minutes thumbing through menus.

Songify

iPhone, free
It's fair to say Songify counts as a novelty app: something to annoy and/or delight your friends with, rather than performing a hugely useful purpose. Not that this is a bad thing. The app gets you to speak into your iPhone's microphone, and then autotunes the living daylights out of whatever you said, setting it to backing music. The results can then be shared via email, Facebook and Twitter. The app comes with three backing tracks, but more can be purchased via in-app payment. Significantly more fun if friends are using it too, this could be a viral hit.

CoPilot Live Premium

iPhone, iPad, Android, �14.99
It's surprising how quickly the price of GPS satellite navigation apps has fallen since they were first available for smartphones. 15 quid might be a promotional price for CoPilot's new app, but even when it goes up, the app will represent good value for money. The UK and Ireland edition stores maps on your handset for offline access ?�good when your mobile connection is patchy ? and makes it quick and easy to generate routes and find local points of interest. For an extra �9.99 via in-app subscription, you can add a feature called ActiveTraffic, which provides live traffic data to help you avoid jams.

Toca Robot Lab

iPhone, iPad, �0.69
Children (and their parents) who loved previous Toca Boca apps like Toca Hair Salon and Paint My Wings will be rushing to download the developer's latest effort. As its name makes clear, building robots is what this app is about, choosing from different parts to create a virtual robot. Once that's done, you get to fly them around a testing area, picking up balls and blocks. The developer calls its apps "digital toys" rather than games, and that shows here: with no goals, the pressure is off, and children can focus simply on creativity. We sense this app will be getting used by parents after their kids have gone to bed too, though.

9mm

iPhone, iPad, �4.99
Gameloft's cop-thriller game 9mm is currently iOS-only, but an Android version is in the works too. It sees you playing as the wincingly-named John "Loose" Kannon, taking down a gangster kingpin. The game looks marvellous, especially on an iPad 2, where its graphics have been beefed up to take advantage of Apple's A5 processor. The controls are easy to get to grips with, and once you've exhausted the solo mode, there are 12-player online deathmatches to refine your skills. The phase "console-quality" is overused and abused by the mobile gaming industry, but 9mm genuinely merits it.

ITV Player

iPhone, iPad, Android, free
ITV's catch-up TV app has joined that of the BBC on the iOS and Android app stores, and does not suffer in the comparison. It requires a Wi-Fi connection to watch shows ? no 3G streaming as with its rivals ? offering shows from all four ITV channels from the last seven days. Programmes can be searched for alphabetically, while the app also offers recommendations based on what's hot. Will there ever be one catch-up TV app covering all the British broadcasters? It's some way off, but for now the ITV Player does a good job alongside the BBC iPlayer.

Grimm's Red Riding Hood

iPhone, iPad, �2.49
Irish startup Ideal Binary made waves with its pop-up book-apps based on Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin. Now it's giving the same treatment to Little Red Riding Hood. It combines text with double-page scenes that can be interacted with by tapping and swiping. It feels high quality throughout, thanks to the characterful animations and the impressively classy soundtrack. iPad owners in particular are spoiled for choice when it comes to excellent children's book-apps, but Grimm's Red Riding Hood is a valued addition to their number.