April 1, 2013 (Vol. 33, No. 7)

URL:
http://bit.ly/YItK4v

Rating:
Strong Points: Nice 3D model with labels
Weak Points: Awkward text navigation

Platform:
iPad

Cost:
$0.99

Summary:

While one certainly hopes to never encounter the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in real-life, the HIV 3D Study app offers the opportunity to learn about and (safely) interact with a virtual virus. The “HIV reference” section of the app consists of a nicely formatted (albeit cumbersome to navigate) encyclopedic introduction to various aspects of HIV, such as virus discovery and human pathology. The source material is clearly drawn from a more general medical encyclopedia, as the various pages are not continuous with one another, nor is the information organized in the best manner. The other portion of the app, the 3D model, is much better suited to the iPad interface, as users can rotate a virus that has various components (lipid membrane, etc.) labeled. However, since the pinch-and-zoom mechanism is not available, zooming in and out is more awkward than it should be on an iPad.

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