America's Civil War User Reviews

Top reviews

Disappointed

This app didn't live up to my expectations. It says portrait or landscape is optional on the iPad, but it only works in portrait, I wouldn't have bought it otherwise. Also, none of the videos work, all I get is sound but no video. The app crashed on me after 2 minutes and if you click on the feedback button you can't return to the main menu, you have to close the app and reopen it. All these issues found in the first couple of minutes of use so what else am I going to find? Very disappointed.
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Used to be good

They destroyed the app by inserting common core crap. Foolish mistake, can no longer be counted on for accuracy.

Text full of typos and poor grammar.

Otherwise informative.

This app is a mess of content

The concept is a good one, but the execution is quite amature-ish. The content is not well laid out, and the multi-media presentations contain music that plays over top of the narration, making it impossible to understand what is being said. The animations are jerky, not well choreographed, and have photos inexplicably interspersed at the oddest moments, making the flow of presentations hard to follow.

Some text is large enough to read easily. Other text is extremely small and very difficult to read with no option to zoom. Obvious that the app author cut and paste content from other sources in a hodge-podge presentation. Overally, content appears completely plagiarized for quick completion / quick sale.

Seriously, appears as though a group of high school kids put this app together. Quite disappointing for the price.
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Too many typos

Lots of information, reasonably well set out but - did no one proof read the text?

Civil war

Although slavery was one of the major issues of this war, very little is said about the African Americans in this conflict. In the section "Americans" many ethnic groups are represented, but not African Americans. This section should be updated to include that ethnic group.

Really poor GUI

I disagree. The app is worth something!!! But while there is a wealth of information in this app there isn't any font adjustment and some of the text font size is just stupid small. If you zoom the page the text doesn't reformat and it turns into a scroll-a-thon to read the text. Can not zoom individual images and zooming the page doesn't go far enough to see any details on many of the maps and images. Really poorly designed GUI.
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Worst. App. Ever.

There really isn't much to say except that the interface is horrible, info is disjointed and hard to read and this app isn't worth anything. I repeat. Anything.

speedo

Very good with a lot of detail.Two drawbacks:- 1) No mention of the Enfield Rifle. 2) The maps are pretty but none functional.The whole ,however, more than compensates for these small deficiencies.

Book Report

A disappointing app for the price. A lot of information is provided, but it is basically in the form of a long book report that could just as easily be grabbed off of an online encyclopedia. I assume that much of the text is original writing for copyright issues, but some parts are amateurish... Battlefield maps are static and low resolution, and the pictures and limited videos look like publicly available snippets from an old PBS special. It's as if they took their 'Programming for Apple Devices 101' class, built the app, inserted some free content, and tried to fill-in the blanks.

The app is not interactive and does not harness the power of the iPad. App would be okay as a not-so-quick reference substitute, or you could buy and actual eBook from a publisher.
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A waste of time and $

Content is very top level, with no details. Sounds on videos mixes too loud music, suddenly drowning out (the top level) description of the events. Graphics are shown only briefly, and there are very few. Maps show the view from outer space, so no details. Just read your elementary school history book instead of suffering through this amateur attempt. It looks like it was thrown together in one day.
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Will not load to my I Phone

I should have listened to the reviews.
And saved $5.00 dollars.
Any body having this problem pleas let me know how you fixed this problem.

If you buy this you'll regret it

This app cries out: the people who built this app just don't care. The frequent misspellings - commonly so basic and obvious they would have been caught in a casual read through by any fourth grader - distract and make plain that the material can't be trusted. Bad that this was released with so many mistakes, worse that the mistakes haven't been fixed. If you care about accuracy, or integrity of historical materials, or if you don't like spending money on shoddy, third-rate workmanship, this is one to pass on.
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Very poor

I bought this app for my 3G and found that the videos did not play which was the main reason for buying it. All the other info although interesting are just snippets from various sources.
I contacted the developers about the video issue and was advised that they work ok with GS or 4. That was a great help. I have asked for a refund but not received one. There is no indication on the site what devices are supported. This is the 1st app I have seen without this if there is any issues with older models.
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It had potential

Multimedia doesn't work. Information incomplete. Hopefully updates will fix the problems. Until then I wouldn't buy this app

A great idea but ...

This app is about the Civil War, yes WAR, with major articles on many interesting facets of the war EXCEPT the weapons of the war. So if you want to learn about the rifles, or cannons, or innovations made in weapons of war that made the killing so efficient and so heartbreaking, you won't learn it here. Without these weapons there would have been no war. Without a discussion of them this only rates one star.
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High Hopes

As another reviewer stated, I can't get my multi-media to work, either. I can load the headings, but that is all. I hope there are updates on the way. At this time, you get one star.

Shabby, and Shame On You

Here's a lesson for developers. This app was ambitious in its launching, but has fallen far short of realistic expectations, especially after its update. In its iPad incarnation, it feels jerky and amateurish. The maps advance like a child's game. The music cuts off abruptly - I would give my high school students a hard time for doing such a poor time in iMovie like this.
With games such as Infinity Blade and others with sophisticated graphics, why hasn't this developer done more to make this app more appealing? It really feels clunky. It doesn't even have the smooth feel of iPhoto's Ken Burns transition; one photo goes on forever while the (boring) narrator goes on and on. All in all, it's a pretty poor offering.
I don't want my money back. I just wish that it was really, really made suitable for the iPad. As someone from a border State whose ancestor was imprisoned at the beginning of the War Between the States, someone whose family keeps bringing up stuff about the war - but now I'm living in Canada - I really was hoping for something more entertaining, engaging, informative.
The data is there. The engagement is not. I will be recommending anyone else to avoid this bloated, underachieving app.
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No videos for me.

Lots of info, but the videos I was supposed to get for my $$ won't run.

I contacted the supplier and was advised that they may not work on earlier versions of the iPod Touch.

It would have been nice to know that in advance. Maybe the info was there and I missed it, if so, my apologies.

My iPod does have OS 3.1.3 which I believe is what the website said was required.
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Why buy it?

It's not clear why you would buy this app except, like me, out of curiosity. All of the material is readily available elsewhere. Citations to sources are lacking, making it unreliable for any serious endeavor. The multimedia presentations seem sketchy and amateurish. Sit down with Wikipedia for a few hours and save your money. I wish I had.
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