Earth3D review

Space is a big place and is widely thought to be man’s ultimate destiny. However, the sad fact about space is that only 0.0000001 per cent of us will actually ever experience its magical brilliance firsthand, which is certainly a kick in the proverbials for many.

Fortunately, for the rest of us that are stuck here on Earth for the foreseeable future there is a consolation prize in the form of Earth3D.

For the most part, apps serve some kind of purpose – they can either entertain, inform, or aid some aspect of your life. However, Earth 3D does none of these things and at first it really does just seem like a screensaver, albeit one with very impressive graphics and animation. 

That said, once you have it open you’re treated to some seriously beautiful imagery, and easily some of the best graphics we’ve seen on the iPhone to date.

Limited interactivity

Unfortunately, Earth 3D is relatively limited in the ways you can interact with it - basically, you have two functions at your disposal.

The first being the ability to double tab on our spinning globe and make it stop dead on its axis, giving you a bird’s eye view of your favourite countries and places. Unfortunately, you cannot zoom in on specific parts, which would have been a nice feature.

Secondly, you can spin the Earth around faster by simply running your finger over it. Granted, this isn’t going to win any gaming prizes however, it’s better than nothing - but only just. Additionally, if you rotate the iPhone around 180 degrees the animation adjusts itself extremely smoothly ensuring sure the Earth is always the right way up.

Possibly the best function of the application is viewing the Moon and Sun way off in the distance and seeing how the Earth interacts with them. At one point during testing we couldn’t help but feel ever so slightly, that we were weightlessly orbiting the Earth, although this could have been down to the red wine and the dark room we were sat in. 

Impressive attention to detail

However, Earth 3D’s main strength is its attention to detail. For instance, when the Earth passes in front of the sun you see it’s solar rays reflect off the Earth’s ozone layer in such clarity and detail that it’s quite breathtaking.

Another interesting aspect of the app, particularly for the more cinematically minded, is that you can line up the three spheres in set shots that would make Stanley Kubrick dribble with envy. During testing we did a few of these, which you can see in the picture section.

In short, this is a pretty app to look at, and one that really demonstrates the graphical power of the iPhone platform. However, because it is just this - a demonstration - it is unlikely to stay in your iPhone for too long. It’s definitely worth a look though, particularly for anyone slightly interested in space.