Shopper

Intro
Opening Shopper for the first time you're greeted with a pop-up telling you where to learn how to use the app. This is a nice touch for people who like getting the whole enchilada right off the bat for new apps. For those who just want to get busy, skip it and come back later if you like, it's intuitive enough to start putting together a cornucopia of food stuffs quickly for your next shopping safari.

What I like
I go grocery shopping for my wife a lot. Go ahead and laugh if you like, boys, but girls love this stuff. With 3 boys at home (one 5-month baby) it's easier for me to go shopping on a Sunday afternoon or on the way home from work. I used to use Zenbe Lists for grocery lists, but really enjoy the aisle feature of Shopper. It's so much easier to have everything automatically categorized so that I can easily plan my assault on the store of my choosing.

It's silly easy to build a list. You've got a few options, and for most things you'll be able to find them in the default shopping list. Anything extra you need to add is easily done and you can add it to a category, or create a new one. For instance, wine is not in the drinks category, so I just plugged it in and added it to the permanent list.

The killer feature of Shopper is that built-in list. It used to be a tedious task to create a shopping list as I typed each item in. With Shopper, I just peruse the aisles and add the items I need to buy. Once this is done I can save this list for future trips, thereby saving more time as I have my most common items at my beck and call. When it comes to shopping lists, you can't only save one, but you can create multiple lists for each store you frequent. For example, I buy my kosher meats from Trader Joe's, and a few other items my wife likes from them. This feature allows me to make one list of the items I buy most and call it into service when I need to.

While you're cruising the aisles of the store and getting the item on your list, there's a nice detail added here… you check the box for the item you picked up. Just like getting the item off the shelf and putting it in your basket, Shopper marks this item complete by moving it into your Cart. This action is complimented by a smooth animation. You can always see what is in your cart and put it back in the list by unchecking it if you need to.

Though I don't use it, I'm very impressed with some of the advanced functionality of Shopper. For those interested in taxes Shopper builds in a tax calculating function. There's also the ability to add prices to your items, either by volume or quantity. This is also a nice touch as you'll get a running total for your shopping trip. This attention to detail tells me that MidCentury is making this app all that they can so that it appeals to a wide group of people. Kudos.

What I dislike
There can be a lot to learn to get the most of this app. Some people may find this a bit much for a grocery app. I would also like to see a syncing feature available similar to Zenbe Lists. I realize this may be out of reach just now for the developer, but one thing that I miss even though it is not a deal-breaker for me, is the ability to create a list online and sync it to my Touch. It was also nice that my wife could create the list and I just open the app. Finally, Shopper left the option for the Classic Color Theme on version 3. This is too bad, because the new theme is really easy on the eyes and the old yellow notebook paper look detracts from this. That said, these are minor complaints which do not detract at all from Shopper's overall usefulness.

Conclusion
Shopper is a mature app in version 3. It is really easy to use and makes list building a breeze. You'll get a lot of value out of this app—especially at the .99 price point. Once you figure in saved lists and custom store lists, you really can't go wrong with Shopper.

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