Pandemica [Currently Free - iTunes Link] is an innovative, intense, augmented reality first person shooter (FPS) game for the iPhone.

Developer XMG Studies uses the iPhone’s camera and compass along with motion detection to make an extremely interactive, one-of-a-kind gaming experience. Read on for more after the break…

Your mission in Pandemica, if you choose to accept it, is to find the enemy pathogens and eradicate them from the world. To do this, your iPhone is transformed into the SBI-22, a subspace Bio-Imager, which is able to see invisible, virulent pathogens and blast them to smithereens. Now you would think that finding and destroying lower life forms would not be that difficult, but these pathogens are like Metriods after a caffeine binge.

Get touched by one and they leave you infected with damaging goo. Now this isn't your run-of-the-mill goo but deadly green goo that can only be dislodged by a quick shake of your iPhone.

Searching for these pathogens is where Pandemica shows ingenuity in using the iPhone’s capabilities. There’s no background in the game so, when you move your iPhone around in 360 degrees…

…The live camera view shows you your own surroundings as background. The iPhone compass (if you have an iPhone 3GS) allows the game to know which direction you are facing and so reacts accordingly. The game has an onscreen map which helps you locate the pathogens and will vibrate and then turn red when you are in imminent danger.

You can also play multiplayer through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, though in order to fully enjoy this game you need to have an iPhone 3GS with OS 3.1 (for the compass and live camera view access).

This ingenious pathogen blasting game is a must try even for those who may not usually enjoy first person shooters, especially since it is currently being offered for free. Check it out and let us know what you think.

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Pandemica Augmented Reality Shooter for the iPhone

iHound [$2.99 - iTunes link] is an app that, if you lose your iPhone, will let you send it a message and then track it down via GPS. Sounds familiar, maybe, but it’s been around longer and doesn’t need a MobileMe account. The Cell Phone Junkie, Mickey Papillion talks me through it in the video below.

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iHound GPS Tracker for iPhone — TiPb @ CES 2010

Literally right after I finished my 2009 Smartphone Round Robin week with Google’s Android platform, represented by the HTC Hero and Motorola Droid, Google went and brought in a ringer — the HTC-built, Android 2.1 sporting Nexus One.

Android Central’s is still en-route but our Editor-in-Chief, Dieter Bohn has been using the Nexus One all through CES so we grabbed him — literally — and got him to very quickly put it one-on-one with the great one — the iPhone 3GS.

Does it change things from our previous hands-on-Android video, and my “power but no passion” full review? Like I said when I posted our iPhone vs. Nexus One gallery, my first impressions are that the Nexus One is top notch when it comes to Google services and hardware specs, but the iPhone is still the king of media and it’s user interface remains unequalled. Am I right? Watch the video below and tell me in the comments!

[Note: No, I didn't slam it in the video or try to make the iPhone look better -- that's not the point of the Round Robin. Ultimately the more, better devices that hit the market, the more, better iPhones Apple will have to make for us here at TiPb.]

[YouTube link]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple iPhone 3GS vs Google/HTC Android Nexus One Hands-on Video — Round Robin Redux