Review date: 16 August 2010 – AppAdvice (universal app for iPhone and iPad)
Every day hundreds of new apps get added to Apple’s App Store. There’s no way that any sane human being can stay on top of what’s funky and what sucks. Let alone that you would be able to figure out which cool apps are on sale. Enter AppAdvice.
It is originally a website (a blog, actually) run by a bunch of nerds with too much time on their hands (this is just an educated guess without solid evidence, I must admit). They filter through all the apps added to the App Store daily and pick out the gems. Next to that, they keep track of which interesting apps are on sale (because there’s a bunch of crap on sale every day, which you wouldn’t even want near your iDevice even if they give you a free bride to go with it). Since the AppAdvice guys don’t seem to spend too much quality time with their girlfriends (or boyfriends, should it be so), they do even more than that. They make podcast, collect news, and make several different lists out of the daily new offers on the App Store. All free, just for you! Or rather, all for the people who bought the app, because it is not for free. It is worth the full 1,59 Euro they charge for it, though. Imagine that you discover one-of-the-games-you’ve-always-wanted-but-never-bought-because-you-didn’t-think-it-was-worth-8-bucks, for sale for less than a dollar! You’d have earned the price of the AppAdvice app back with a single purchase! And those things do happen, believe me. I bought N.O.V.A. that way. Good stuff. And if you want the same info for free, you can always use their website AppAdvice.com. But there’s something cool about this app. It simply aggregates all data in a neat newspaper-style view that lets you see what’s new in a glance.
The iPad version shows an infinitely scrollable list of articles. In landscape mode there’s a list of “Featured” articles on the right hand side. It’s not clear who features them nor why they are featured. Anyhow, this perfectly does the trick for me. No need for extra complication. But hey, the iPhone app looks totally different! It has categories and a search box! What’s up with that? It seems that the iPhone features will be added to a later version of the iPad app. At the moment all you can do is to set a filter in the AppAdvice Settings icon to view iPhone or iPad articles only. The app is Universal, by the way. When you buy it you can use it on all iDevices you own. The only other setting is the possibility to select the country of your iTunes Store, which is also a cool feature missing from many app sales apps (I apologize for the confusing terminology). It offers the option to automatically detect your App Store country when the app first starts, but you can override it later if you like.
I hope that the AppAdvice team smartly integrates the iPhone features on the iPad in a future version. I mean that they should keep the current view as a default, but allow you to filter the categories on the fly. The iPhone version requires too much navigation to use from your lazy chair. The subzero feel of the iPad version definitely has my preference, although it misses the search and other features.
I’ll end this review with a summary of the information that you can find in the AppAdvice app. Remember, the iPhone app shows this in separate blocks, while the iPad shows a neat (but unfiltered) newspaper view. I like bullet lists, so here goes.
- AppNews
Regular iPhone and iPad news as you can find it on a million other web sites. Nothing spectacular, but it’s nice that you’re kept in the loop. - AppGuides
These are lists of the best apps for a certain task. Handy to help you find what to install when you just bought your device or when you have a bunch of junk which you want to replace with good stuff. There are apps for cooking, apps for dating, apps to tune your guitar, and so on. All AppGuides are divided in Essential, Notable, Decent and “Beyond”, which is probably not where you want to go, unless you want some very specific feature. - AppLists
This is very similar to the AppGuides. In fact, I’m not quite sure why these two exist separately. Maybe I should ask the friendly guys at AppDevice.com? Anyway, who cares. This function has more lists of apps in categories such as “Photographer’s Kit” and “Apps for Depression” (I would’ve expected “Apps against Depression”, but everybody can have their own fancy, right?) These lists are divided In Paid and Free apps. - AppReviews
Each day a couple of apps get reviewed. Obviously, these reviews are in no way comparable with the magnificent type of review you’re reading now, for example. Chaos Reviews rules! - Appisodes
These are video podcasts which highlight the most important entries of the day. Presented by a girl, because boys are more likely to watch it since they, supposedly, like girls, and girls are more likely to watch it since it promotes girl power. Whatever. You can also win stuff. Maybe only when you live in the USA, I didn’t check that yet. - AppMovers
A list of apps for which sales have gone up. Other than the regular categories, there are no filters in this list. - NewApps
A simple categorized list of newcomers in the App Store. The list can be filtered by Paid, Free, and Noteworthy newcomers. - AppUpdates
The same type of list, but this time for updated apps. - AppSales
A very interesting list which shows which apps have gone on sales, which have gone free and which ones you certainly shouldn’t miss. Whether the apps are useful for you depends on your personal preference of course. Note that most of these price drops are temporary and sometimes only last a single day.
AppAdvice is a great app. Strangely even greater on the iPad then on the iPhone, despite the lacking features. Highly recommended.
We found this agreeable:
- Super simple user-interface on iPad
- Find cool apps
- Find cheap or free apps
- iPhone version has more features
We did not appreciate this:
- No customization on the iPad
- Too much navigation required on iPhone
- Not a free app, while the website is free (they could make an ad-supported version)
Review Score: 4 Chaos Stars (out of 5, if you’re wondering)
Reviewed version: 1.0.1
Category: News
Get it in the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/be/artist/appadvice-com/id305663481
Price at time of review: 1,59 Euro (1.99 USD)
Screenshots:
Below: the iPhone splash screen
Below: the iPhone main menu
Below: the iPad view in landscape mode
Below: the iPad view in portrait mode
Other reviews of AppAdvice:
- http://geekshuiliving.com/2010/05/21/appadvice-helping-ipad-owners-get-the-most-for-their-money/
- http://www.digitaljutsu.com/2010/08/app-advice-app-for-iphone.html
If you also have a review or know of another review of this app, please let me know and I’ll happily add the link to this list. Thank you.
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ps: This is our first review. If it comes across chaotic, er… Well, I guess it’s somehow supposed to be. Leave a comment if you like.
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