Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I rarely write reviews and when I do it is almost exclusively for apps I really like. I don't see the point of going into the trouble to write a negative review, particularly for a FAOTD as I can just ignore it. This time I just could not help it though. I downloaded the app seeing that it has on the whole favorable reviews and was AMAZED by how sub par it is. I am amazed that it is #1 in Amazon Health (seriously!) and amazed by how it has so many good reviews. It suggests that it is a window simulation with rain. I imagined rain falling at different angles and strengths against the window, dropplets merging together and running down, clouds morphing in the background.. Instead, the 'simulation' is as if you were lying on your back with a glass pane above you. The rain drops fall squarely on the glass (at least the drops are not square and not quite round) and then simply disappear! The clouds in the background are a static image that scrolls from left to right with no change in the clouds' shapes. The sound (which presumably is meant to be the highlight of the app) is terrible. It stutters, especially initially, on my HTC Skyrocket and, as others have pointed out, has a very heavy component of white noise rather than complex rain sounds. I'm not sure why it needs the network permissions but presumably it is for the annoying ads and rating requests that seem to pop up every other time you open the application. Most importantly, I can not think of a situation where this app might come to its own. If you are trying to fall asleep and need some nice background sounds you don't need to look at the screen. (if you are trying to fall asleep with your eyes open that may be the problem right there ;-) There are many apps out there (some with free lite versions) that provide much higher quality sound boards with full control on the sound content (Sleepy time lite has already been mentioned by another reviewer; Lightning Bug is my favorite but more expensive at 2.99). Lightning Bug - Sleep Clock If you want something chilled and interactive to meddle with and help you relax I would highly recommend the multi-award winning Osmos HD. Maybe this really is a niche app for people with reverse seasonal affective disorder (as one of the reviewers claims to have) but other than that I would certainly suggest avoiding it.