iOSst

2012-05-01

Delivery Status touch

Delivery Status touch is just the best app to track the deliveries you are waiting for.

As the long known Mac OS X widget Delivery Status is the best way to track your packages on Mac OS X, its iOS equivalent is the best app to this on iOS. You are able to sync the packages between your devices and you’ll also can get a push notification to your iOS devices, if the status of one of your packages has changed on the Mac widget.

I’ll don’t list all the supported services here. Every service I ever used is supported, so I think your favorit service is supported too. The most important are probably: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, TNT, Apple and Amazon. Here you’ll find a list of all supported services.

There is not much to say, just get it ;)

+ nice UI
+ I really love the icon
+ available for iPhone, iPad and as Mac OS X widget
+ possibility to sync packages between different devices.
+ see where your package is on a map
+ a lot of supported services (over 35)

Website | App Store

2012-04-28

Scalar² [Update]

The calculator Scalar² got an update with some new features. We already reviewed a previous version here.

The biggest new feature is, that Scalar² now supports scientific functions and constants like π, e, sind and cos. However, you still can’t calculate the exponentiation if the exponent is bigger then 3.

It is also a little unclear how the results are rounded. Most of the time there are only four digits after the decimal, but sometimes more. This can cause some strange results, as shown in the second screenshot.

If you’ll need to calculate complicated stuff, Soulver probably suits you better.

Our Review | Website | App Store

2012-04-27

Invy

Invy is a beautiful app to pick a date with friends and family.

I used to use Doodle when I need to pick a date with friends or colleagues, but after testing Invy I’ll gonna use Invy now. It not only looks much nicer, but also has some cool features, which I missed while using Doodle (to be fair: I never used the Doodle iPhone app yet, maybe the features are available there).

You’ll get reminded to pick a date as soon as all invited participants made their choice via a push notification and the status is updating in realtime inside the app. But the best feature is, that after choosing a date, the app automatically creates an event in your iPhone calendar.

Another really important function is, that invited participants don’t need to download the app or create an account to pick a date. After they are invited they will get an email with a link to a website, where they can pick their dates.

+ looks beautiful
+ great features
+ invited participants don’t need the app, they can pick the date on a website
+ creates calendar event, when date is picked
+ easy and fun to use
- address book to invite people only shows contacts with a name (companies aren’t shown)

Website | App Store

2012-04-11

Green Kitchen

Green Kitchen is a great collection of of healthy vegetarian recipes. And believe me, the food is not only healthy and vegetarian but also off the beaten track and really delicious. The app has been created by the same people, who are also responsible for the website greenkitchenstories.com.

The offered content is really great. The over fifty recipes are classified into six different categories: breakfasts (4), drinks (6), main courses (23), soups (5), salads (7) and desserts (9). Every recipes is illustrated with several appetizing photographies. All recipe feature three sections. The summary, which gives an overview (how long it will take, for how many people, …) and and often tells a nice background story. The ingredients, listing everything you need to make it. And the instructions, which are detailed and easy to follow.
However, as the recipe are not really common you probably need to go shopping before you are able to cook one of them. So the app is the wrong choice if you are sitting at home on a sunday and want to cook something, but it definitely is the right choice if you want to surprise some one with a really great dish and have enough time to go shopping before starting to cook.

If we now take a closer look on the app itself instead of the great content: It is beautifully designed, you chosen graphics are adequate, nice to look at but not distracting from the content. The user experience is how you would expect it on iOS. Only the sounds (for example when clicking a button) are in my opinion not subtle enough but instead a bit annoying.

The app is definitely a recommendation. Not only for it great implementation but also for the really extraordinary and delicious food.

+ extraordinary and delicious recipes
+ great user interface
+ beautiful graphics
+ universal app for iPhone and iPad
- sounds are a bit annoying

Website | App Store

2012-03-16

Audience

Audience is a pretty app, showing you statistics from Google Analytics about your website.

Audience feature set is pretty minimalistic. It only shows you the number of visitors, new visitors, total and unique page views and page views per visitor. This data can be viewed for today, yesterday, last week, month and year. That’s all. That’s it. To be honest, I expected more. I rather see graphs than numbers and would like to see how the data changed about a period of time. Adding for each number something like “+54% (compared to previous time period)” would be make it much more useful for me.

However it looks really nice and what Audience is able to do it does great.

+ nice UI
+ random background color
- limited information

Website | App Store

2012-03-03

Soulver

Soulver is a calculator app taking another approach.

Most other calculator apps I have seen before, from Apples built in one to Calcbot, are trying to resemble a real calculator. They mostly only have one line for the actual calculation, in which they mostly only show the result and not the actual calculation. Soulver is, like the also reviewed Scalar², an exception.

I am not sure, which app I like more. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Scalar² seems easier to use especially if you want to reference to older calculations. Line references are a bit hidden in Soulver.

Soulver has the great features that it always calculates as long as you type, so there is no need to tap on a = button (This however was confusing for my testperson, which wasn’t able to find the = and also didn’t realize that Soulver already calculated it). And Soulver supports a wide range of scientific functions and constants like sin, cos, e or π and the possibility to calculate exponents or roots, which all aren’t available in Scalar².

Soulvers user interface looks great. It is really simple and clean and is consistent with iOS. However I don’t like the icon. It feels cheap to me with that strange golden border.

To sum it up: Scalar² and Soulver have a similar approach. Which approach suits you better is probably subjective. However Scalar² still lacks a lot of features you expect from a calculator (exponents, scientific calculator, …) so until this functionality is added, Soulver is the better choice.

+ the whole calculation is visible and can easily be changed
+ multiple pages to calculate on
+ wide range of scientific functions and constants
+ nice and clean UI
+ calculate as you type
+ convert and calculate with currencies
+ line references, variables, …
+ also available for iPad
- icon could be better
- maybe a bit confusing for beginners

Website | App Store

2012-02-25

Pro:Alarm

Pro:Alarm is a beautiful alarm and world clock.

It has all the features the built-in clock app has, except for a stop watch. Instead you’ll find the option to get reminded when you enter or leave a specific location. Pro:Alarm also shows you the weather and date on the world clock and has a special dock view. With a nice wallpaper this dock view looks really great on a desk. The timer has some awesome features too, like repeatable timers.

The user interface is just stunning. Nice icons, subtle textures and animations. Really really great.

But unfortunately there is still one reason that let’s me stick with the built-in clock app. And this downside is no fault of developer but a restriction from Apple. When I have my phone silent it only will vibrate and therefor would be unable to wake me up. Also the length of the sound is limited. But this is a downside every third party alarm clock has.

+ gorgeous user interface
+ a lot of features
+ paid pro and free ad supported versions available
- some downsides, caused by restrictions from Apple.

Website | App Store

2012-02-23

Instagram

Instagram is the best known and it is also probably the best photo sharing app, which allows you to beautify your photos with the help of filters. I am unsure if it was the first app which introduced filters, but it was at least the first I used.

Some weeks ago Instagram 2.0 was released. I also used the 1.x quite often, but didn’t like the interface that much. Now with the 2.0 update the app finally looks really great. The user interface redesign was done by Tim Van Damme, who for example was also responsible for the design of the Gowalla app.

Regarding the features: You can snap photos, add a filter to it and share it with your followers. You can also add a border and a tilt shift effect. In 2.0 there was also an effect, called Lux, added, which is some form of auto brightness and contrast. The filters aren’t overdone, which is one of the reasons that you are easily able to improve your quick photo in Instagram.

To sum it up: Instagram is (besides the built-in camera app) my app of choice for taking and ‘editing’ pictures.

+ great filters
+ tilt-shift and Lux effect
+ images saved in full size to photos app
+ able to publish on Twitter, Tumblr, FaceBook, Flickr …
- you can’t save a picture without uploading it (however you can protect your feed)

Website | App Store

2012-02-22

Things [Cloud Sync in Public Beta]

Things Cloud Sync is now in public beta, so finally everyone is able to use it and a public launch shouldn’t be that far away now. You’re able to find more about the public beta here.

Our Review | Website | App Store

2012-02-21

iStudiez Pro

iStudiez is an app to manage your timetable and your assignments. It’s an app that every student should own and use.

IStudiez is a really great app to organise your student life. It reminds you about due assignments and the upcoming courses. You can configure yourself how long before start or due time it should remind you. You have a beautiful integrated calendar including a nice week view. You can also decide to automatically also show your iCal events in iStudiez if you like. It even supports courses, which take place every second week. The user interface is beautiful and works like expected.

To make a long story short: It is a really great app, which helped me a lot during my time at university. The app was in daily use and always remembered me about upcoming classes. I only left my apartment, when iStudiez reminded me to go to courses. This should prove my trust in this app.

+ local notifications to remind you about starting classes
+ available for Mac, iPhone and iPad (Universal for iOS)
+ cloud sync
+ works reliable

Website | App Store