Droid Armory Android App Review (World of Warcraft)
Written by Mike on June 24, 2010 · Filed under Games, Review, Software
Being new to the world of Android with my new HTC Desire I immediately looked up what the top apps were. I then went on to downloading the usual list of best Android apps such as app killers, music streamers and file managers that make using the phone that bit easier.
They were all pretty cool but did not really showcase any of the massive powers of my new Android mobile phone handset. So I went on a random romp through the app market place waiting for something to catch my eye. After downloading several apps, some good, most bad, I stumbled across the Droid Armory Android app.
The description said it was a World of Warcraft Armory port of the webpage-based system provided by Blizzard. I’ve never really used WoW Armory as when I am on the PC I am working or playing and don’t really care what other players are wearing or doing.
That said, the thought of checking your friends’ WoW gear and achievements while waiting for a train seemed like a good idea to me!
The app was about 3mb and as usual downloaded and installed in seconds. The title screen is clear and lets you choose location and server names from drop down boxes. You then go on to search by name in a free text box. This in turn brings up a list people based on the parameters that you have defined.
Features
Each character is accompanied by their character info (class, race, level and realm name) and a little picture. This makes finding the correct person very easy even when not selecting a defined server. Press the person you want and it loads up there details page.
This now shows a lot more specific information on your chosen player. The main box in the centre of the screen shows HP/Mana along with talent selections (2 for duel spec). Around the outside of the screen are pictures of all the character’s armour. Simply press a piece of armour and all the information on that item including enchants and gems is brought up in the same style as it does in game.
Pretty standard stuff so far but this is where the magic begins. The bottom half of the screen has 5 boxes. These are broken down into:
Stats – This takes you to a selection screen where you can view more specific stats. This is then further broken down into Character (showing specific character stats and what they equate to), Talents (this allows you to view the characters talent tree and how they have spent their points) and Profession (showing their chosen professions and what level they are at).
Progress – This takes you to another selection screen that allows you to see a players Achievements (broken down under headers) Reputations with all rep bars and finally that players overall gear score.
Team – This takes you to yet another selection screen that lets you see either the character’s Arena teams (including scores for 2v2 3v3 5v5, overall records for each team and who else is in those teams) and that player’s guild. This is a full list of every player in the same guild and comes up with a list like when searching for a player with all the same information.
Infos – Probably the most useful tab as it lets you see a news screen dedicated to the player showing all their recent events such as Achievements earned, instances run, gear obtained, quests completed, ect.. It also displayed the time and date at which the event occurred. This really makes it easy for you to see what people have recently been doing. WoW stalking just got a whole lot easier!
3D View – This was by far the most impressive part of the Droid Armory Android app. Press this little button and be amazed as it loads a fully 3D rendered image of the WoW player’s character. You can then zoom in and out and view the character from a full smooth rotating 360 degree angle. You can also cycle through weapon selections, view with and without helm and even change backgrounds. This is seriously cool and in my opinion would have just been a cool Android app by itself just to show off the World of Warcraft graphics to non-players.
All the screens in the app have slick interfaces and are really well used. It becomes very natural to operate after about 5 minutes of playing around and most importantly it looks real pretty.
Although, it is not all sweetness and light. The Droid Armory Android app has crashed on me several times and sometimes the 3D images do not properly load or render. However, there are updates made regularly that have helped iron out some of the glitches and more are promised. But, in my opinion these are minor problems and the good far out ways the bad.
Summary
Droid Armory comes in two versions, Free and Pay. The free version has those annoying adds that change from the top and bottom of the page and Pay version is only €3.50. So if you play WoW a lot and think the Armory is a useful tool this is a snip. If you just want to check it out or check someone else out then get the free version to start with at least.
Droid Armory is by far one of the best Android apps I have downloaded so far and one that I have recommended to all my Android using, WoW playing friends, both of them….
Image Source – Android Zoom
