App At A Time

App Name: Colorized What It Does: Turns any photo into a...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:14:34 -0800

App Name: Colorized

What It Does: Turns any photo into a coloring book outline, allowing you to paint, draw, or put stickers on top of it.

How I most often use it: Doodling. I have to admit, because I didn’t stumble into something cool to color immediately, I was disappointed with my results, and didn’t want to do another. I think subject matter is crucial here.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: Nah.

Most pleasing interaction: Finger painting!

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The fact that you can remix other peoples’ posts is probably the coolest part. If it were easier to make something look “good” rather than just different and novel, remixing would be a fantastic feature.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Letterpress What It Does: It’s like Boggle,...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:49:00 -0800

App Name: Letterpress

What It Does: It’s like Boggle, but with strategy. You can challenge your friends to alternate making words from a communal pile of letters. The more letters you have in your color, the more points you earn. The person with the most points when all the letters have been played at least once wins.

How I most often use it: At moments of boredom, and when I really want to prove that I’m good at words.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: I play exceptionally few games, but were I a Words With Friends or other social game player, it might replace those.

Most pleasing interaction: Oh man, too many to count. The app is gorgeous, and fun to interact with.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The only downside of the app is that it’s built entirely on Game Center, which is one of Apple’s ugliest and most frustrating products. In other words, it’s not super easy to start a game with someone if you aren’t already connected via Game Center.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Gojee What it does: A curated and personalized...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:09:41 -0800

App Name: Gojee

What it does: A curated and personalized directory of recipes for food and drinks.

How I most often use it: I rarely have all ingredients needed to follow a recipe from A to Z but I use it as a source of inspiration to decide what I am up to cook for dinner. The good quality pictures help a lot for that.

Has it replaced anything else in you live: I am an huge fan of marmiton.org app (French cooking website). I am still using it when I am looking for something specific. But when it comes to be inspired, Gojee does a way better job!

Most pleasing interaction: browsing the recipes in swiping the high quality pictures is key and I makes this app so addictive and pleasant to use.

How does it compare to the web version: I am not really familiar with the website but It looks really similar: big images and a small search box as a main mean of interaction. But Bringing your Android phone or tablet in the kitchen is safer than bringing your laptop!

Download for iOS

Download for Android

App Name: Thrillcall What It Does: Helps you discover concerts...

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:51:58 -0700

App Name: Thrillcall

What It Does: Helps you discover concerts in your city tonight, and it might even get you a great deal on a great show.

How I most often use it: While I’m generally a Songkick man when it comes to concert discovery, Thrillcall is a nice tool to have in your pocket when you have a free night and just want to see some music.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: It’s more of a supplement than a replacement — it’s for the concerts that I wasn’t otherwise planning to attend.

Most pleasing interaction: Seeing a great deal on a concert tonight as soon as you open the app.

How does it compare to the web version?: The web version is more robust and more confusing. The web makes them seem like far more of a Songkick competitor, but without the personalization (or maybe it’s there and I just don’t see it?), and with more news-type content.

Other comments: There still aren’t enough offers in the app to make it worth checking on the regular, at least in San Francisco. Interestingly, they do have three more SF shows listed in their directory for tonight than Songkick (25 vs 22).

My only big complaint from a usability perspective is the purchase experience for a user who has opted not to login or create an account. If you have a credit card on file, it’s a simple one tap purchase; but without info, there’s a little “Add Info” button hidden in the middle of the screen, which is overshadowed by a huge “Confirm Purchase” button at the bottom that doesn’t do anything.

Download for iOS & Android

App Name: Circa What It Does: Provides a new way of reading...

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:02:46 -0700

App Name: Circa

What It Does: Provides a new way of reading news, specifically designed for mobile. Stories (created by editors from a number of different cited sources) are broken into smaller points and often updated. This means you can subscribe to the stories that matter to you and stay on top of new developments.

How I most often use it: On those occasions when I’m not getting enough real information on a news subject from Twitter or other sources.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: I’m not a big news reader, so it’s replaced the occasional search of CNN.com or other news outlets.

Most pleasing interaction: The ability to subscribe to stories is huge. At a more basic interaction level, the locking into place when you scroll to the next point is pretty great.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The app was just released, so naturally there is room for improvement. There’s a menu button in the top left that takes you to a page that I don’t understand. I’d also love to see the ability to swipe from right to left to get to the next story.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Mirrorgram What It Does: Lets you take photos and...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:03:29 -0700

App Name: Mirrorgram

What It Does: Lets you take photos and mirror sections of them in various ways.

How I most often use it: Just trying it out for the first time.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: It hasn’t. It’s its own beast.

Most pleasing interaction: When the app opens, it goes straight into camera mode. No guessing what your first step is.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The app is neat, though still a bit buggy (my share to Twitter didn’t go through, for example). The interactions that are gesture driven (swipe two fingers apart to define the mirror angle, for example) are hard and undiscoverable without the initial coach marks, but thankfully there are backup tap interactions (tapping the Mirrorgram logo will change the reflection).

I was also thrown off by the fact that you *have* to share the end product somewhere in order to complete the process. You can save the end product to your phone, but not unless you share it elsewhere, too.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Tiny Post What It Does: Allows you to add text to a...

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:48:19 -0700

App Name: Tiny Post

What It Does: Allows you to add text to a photo and share it with friends.

How I most often use it: When I don’t think a photo can do without an emphatic caption (generally humorous).

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: It hasn’t, but I had been wondering what apps do this sort of thing — there seem to be enough text-overlayed photos on Instagram and Tumblr that some good tools had to exist.

Most pleasing interaction: Being able to choose filters and fonts on the same screen is pretty neat — some fonts look better with different filters, and I’m not sure I’d know which one to choose first.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: There are a few features that I think could be ditched, namely the ability to add a comment as part of the posting flow, and tags. Both are superfluous and available outside of the posting flow, so it would be great to remove those distractions when you’re posting, as it only causes confusion.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Brewster What It Does: Creates a smarter, more...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:07:27 -0700

App Name: Brewster

What It Does: Creates a smarter, more usable address book, with photos, favorites, tags, updates, and more.

How I most often use it: I could see this being helpful when looking for some metadata on friends (eg - where they went to school), or when you can remember a tidbit about someone but you’re totally blanking on their names.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: While I can see it as immensely useful for folks who call people, I find the record recent texts in my Messages app to be an easier way to get in touch with the folks I most commonly interact with.

Most pleasing interaction: There are a lot of great designs and interactions, but I think my favorite is how they use the status bar (where the time, battery, etc generally display) to show any work that the app is doing (saving, refreshing, etc) while allowing you to keep navigating through the rest of the app.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: I’m not clear on what tags do. I thought it was a neat idea, but then discovered that what I expected it to do is actually what lists are for — being able to group friends together to easily message. I also find the wording hilarious when the app says “[Friend’s Name] is Losing Touch” :)

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: The Verge What It Does: It gives an access to the...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:42:14 -0700

App Name: The Verge

What It Does: It gives an access to the editorial content of theverge.com through a very well designed and good looking app.

How I most often use it: every morning when I wake up to read the latest news from the tech industry.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: I was using Google Current and Pulse before that but the dedicated app of the Verge is so nice that I did remove the Verge’s feed from Current and Pulse and now I am reading it exclusively in the app!

Most pleasing interaction: like the website, the app is really clean and simple. But its good looking design makes the news pleasant to read. The sliding menu is very well implemented too (it is not always the case on Android…).

How does it compare to the web version?: It let you read while you are offline and the sliding menu makes the navigation easier and faster than the mobile-optimized website.

(Editor’s note: Fascinating that they implemented a left navigation panel (a la Facebook) on Android, where it’s not yet standard, yet retain a button navigation bar on the bottom of iOS)

Download for iOS

Download on Google Play

App Name: Shelby Genius What It Does: Creates a playlist of...

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:55:04 -0700

App Name: Shelby Genius

What It Does: Creates a playlist of related videos (with continual playback) from a single search term.

How I most often use it: If I want to watch some videos, but don’t want to try too hard to find what to watch, I’ll just search for something in the genre of what I’d like to watch and lean back.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: It’s a sort of plug in the hole that the pull-down of their other app, Shelby TV, has left.

Most pleasing interaction: Needing no interaction to continue viewing great content.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The design is almost offensively minimal, but it’s a great proof of concept that I look forward to seeing integrated into Shelby TV when it relaunches.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Mob What It Does: Makes it easy to join or create...

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:30:52 -0700

App Name: Mob

What It Does: Makes it easy to join or create on-the-fly gatherings.

How I most often use it: Haven’t had a reason to use it yet, but it could be helpful in trying to coordinate a group of people in a public space.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: Nope, but it could replace texting in the right scenarios, and potentially draw more outsiders (if desired).

Most pleasing interaction: The way it walks you through the event creation process is pretty nice — the pieces of the event card are populated as you input them, and the animations mimic those the potential attendees see.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The design leaves a lot to be desired, and I have yet to really see a use-case in action, but a lot of the positive reviews surround flashmobs, in which I have never participated.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Brit+Co What It Does: Gives a beautiful interface to...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:54:48 -0700

App Name: Brit+Co

What It Does: Gives a beautiful interface to the content that Brit + Co publishes — generally at the intersection of fashion, design, home, and technology.

How I most often use it: Honestly, I’m not really in the target demographic, so I use it as a reminder of some beautiful iOS design.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: Not for me, but for others it could replace some other media channels/blogs, or possibly Pinterest (though Brit + Co states that they’re on Pinterest all day long, gathering much of their inspiration there).

Most pleasing interaction: The menus for navigating to different categories of content and sharing content are incredibly beautiful.

How does it compare to the web version?: The content and colors are all the same, but mobile is stripped of things like ads and similar post recommendations.

Other comments: It’s interesting to see such design and engineering effort put into something that is ostensibly a blog. Makes me wonder what else Brit up her sleeves :)

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: The Transit App What It Does: Provides transit...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:38:33 -0700

App Name: The Transit App

What It Does: Provides transit directions for many agencies around the US and Canada… most relevantly, San Francisco’s MUNI, BART, Caltrain, and AC Transit.

How I most often use it: It integrates with Apple’s iOS 6 Maps, so I can use it to find the most efficient public transit route to a destination I find in Maps. It’s also nice for seeing the next busses for my nearby stops.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: The Google Maps transit directions from the old Maps app. I used to use Routesy to get real-time updates on bus times… Transit has taken over that role as well.

Most pleasing interaction: This beautiful app uses the Highway Gothic typeface to give you that “going places” feel.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The app is free for online use; users can purchase a subscription for offline data.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Ding Dong What It Does: Allows you to easily share...

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:03:12 -0700

App Name: Ding Dong

What It Does: Allows you to easily share your location and a timestamp with anyone.

How I most often use it: While I haven’t put it to use in the field yet, I could see a plethora of uses: tell someone you’ve arrive, you’re late, or where to meet you.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: If it allowed for tracking of your movement after dinging someone, it could replace Glympse (which is really more steps than it’s worth, so I only use it on occasion).

Most pleasing interaction: Ringing the doorbell to send your location!

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: In having a friend test the app with me, we ran into some odd issues with our dings showing up in each others’ inboxes rather than being notified through the app. We believe this was because we were sending from our address books, prior to having both connected to Facebook, but it wasn’t very clear what was going on.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Embarcadero What It Does: Provides transit directions...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:45:56 -0700

App Name: Embarcadero

What It Does: Provides transit directions and times for bay area locations.

How I most often use it: It’s one of a suite of transit apps I’m trying to compensate for iOS 6 maps lacking transit directions.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: So far, it’s the closest option I’ve found to replacing Google Maps Transit. That said, its search functionality still leaves a lot to be desired.

Most pleasing interaction: When the app loads, it automatically lists out the upcoming bus times for all the nearby busses. This is enormously helpful if you know what bus you want to take.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: A simple search feature would make the app infinitely more useful. You can currently get directions to a specific location by dropping a pin where you want to go, but you can’t set that location by typing in an address or building name. Otherwise, the app is a great!

Also worth noting: the app is only available for iOS 6

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Curated Text What It Does: Allows you to download...

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:49:52 -0700

App Name: Curated Text

What It Does: Allows you to download curated “web-books” on a wide variety of topics.

How I most often use it: Was just trying it out for the first time. Could see it as an alternative to books for topics that elicit desires for deeper information on the topics touched upon.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: Not in my life, but I could see the opportunity for teachers to curate their own textbooks from web content.

Most pleasing interaction: While it may seem insignificant, I think the most powerful feature is the ability to tap on virtually anything on the page and get more info (usually via Wikipedia). Along those lines, a close second is the table of contents for all the YouTube videos included in the web-book.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version

Other comments: The app has some design drawbacks at the moment (many touch targets are too small), and the books I played with were almost TOO detailed on their subjects, but the vision is great and I could see this as an iBooks (who also have a book creation tool) competitor for the open-source lovers of the world.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Flava What It Does: A private life-log that lets you...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:43:09 -0700

App Name: Flava

What It Does: A private life-log that lets you document moments, be they photos, songs, websites, locations, and more.

How I most often use it: Documenting moments and things that don’t necessarily have a place on public social networks.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: At first, I thought it was a Path competitor, but there’s really no sharing involved (though you can choose to publish posts to other networks). It’s not a notes app, as it’s focused around memories. So I guess it’s a new thing. We’ll see if it gets into steady rotation.

Most pleasing interaction: The app is loaded with them. The animations are smooth, the icons are beautiful, and even many pictures have panning animations that make them look more video-like.

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version, yet.

Other comments: The app has unfortunately received a ton of terrible ratings in the App Store for its latest version 2.0. They overhauled the design extensively, and the old users are rather upset. Unfortunately I never had a chance to play with the old version, so I can’t speak to the differences.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Note.s What It Does: It’s a simple and...

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:13:31 -0700

App Name: Note.s

What It Does: It’s a simple and beautiful note tool, allowing you to post text, images, and locations in a two-level hierarchy (eg - category & note), and even allows you to protect notes with a passcode.

How I most often use it: Keeping track of simple notes on a variety of topics. Primarily for random thoughts in situations where I’m not able to act upon them immediately.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: The native Notes app. I’ve never been a fan of Evernote, primarily because it does so much. This app is super simple, and feels like I can make it my own.

Most pleasing interaction: While I’m generally opposed to implicit swipe actions, I really like how it just made sense to swipe from left to right to go one level up (eg - from the note to the list of notes to the category).

How does it compare to the web version?: No web version.

Other comments: I’ve been resistent for a long time to any sort of note app (apart from Writer on iPad), but this is finally simple and beautiful enough to get into rotation.

The only downside is trying to find the app in the App Store. It’s virtually impossible. Use the link below.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: Tripl What It Does: Gives you a look into your...

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:31:16 -0700

App Name: Tripl

What It Does: Gives you a look into your friends’ travel

How I most often use it: Checking in on my friends. Travel is usually a driver for interesting events, photos, etc, so the content here is often more interesting than on Facebook or other networks.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: No, but I’ll probably wind up seeing interesting travel photos from friends I don’t follow on Instagram.

Most pleasing interaction: I really like seeing the Instagram photos above a tiny map, and being able to flip through all the photos from a trip that way.

How does it compare to the web version?: I assumed this would be mobile-only, but the web version has all the same features, and even some additional features that help tell the story (something about the city they’re in, number of people you know nearby that city, and links to book a trip there).

Other comments: While it’s beautiful and somewhat useful, I can’t wait to see the website features integrated and extended — it doesn’t currently feel like there’s enough that I would want to *do* with the information presented in the app.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android

App Name: ISO500 What It Does: Allows you to browse beautiful...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:54:18 -0700

App Name: ISO500

What It Does: Allows you to browse beautiful photos and participate in the 500px community

How I most often use it: Browsing. I’m not any sort of photographer beyond Instagram, but I appreciate that not all great photos fit into a box on your iPhone.

Has it replaced anything else in your life?: Eh, it comes and goes with all other apps that show beautiful pictures. Sometimes I’m into travel-focused images, other times I’m more open to any subject matter.

Most pleasing interaction: The obvious choice would be the Path-like navigation button, but honestly the best part is being able to swipe through photos without any other chrome on the phone. It’s highly immersive. The app in general is really good at staying out of your way.

How does it compare to the web version?: It’s somewhat similar to 500px, since it’s built directly on top of their APIs, but the design is distinct. They are not associated officially with 500px.

Other comments: My biggest disappointment is that it’s only for the phone. I would love to be able to see all these gorgeous pictures on my retina iPad screen.

Download for iOS

Not currently available for Android