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Stache Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Jennifer Allen on May 28th, 2014
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: VISUAL BOOKMARKING
Stache is a handy way of consolidating links and turning them into visual bookmarks, but there are better solutions out there.
Read The Full Review »

Outread Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Jennifer Allen on January 15th, 2014
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: TIME SAVING READING
Speeding up reading and proving a great way to consolidate articles, Outread is useful for those who regularly read on their iPhone.
Read The Full Review »

148Apps' Best Apps of 2012: 20-11

Posted by Carter Dotson on December 27th, 2012

We're at the middle part of our rundown of 2012's best apps. Agree or disagree with our choices? Let us know in the comments below!

20. DocuSign Ink: Getting signatures on important documents becomes a lot easier with this extremely handy app, allowing users to sign with their fingers or a stylus to be added to PDF documents or ones captured with the iOS camera. Angela LaFollette says its security and convenience are unparalleled: “What makes DocuSign Ink stand out from other apps similar to it is that documents are secured and protected from being copied, documents can be stored on cloud services like Box, Dropbox and Google Drive and the app converts PDF fields so users can fill them out with ease.”

19. Hueless: While we now have the ability to take photos with realistic color depth, there’s still something about black-and-white photography and the special composition that it requires that makes it stand out even today. Hueless makes this easy by providing real-time capture in black-and-white, as opposed to post-processing. There’s the ability to adjust color filters, exposure, and contrast while shooting, so that perfect shot is attainable the first time. While it may take old-timey photos, it still provides modern features like sharing to social networks, including Instagram. There’s no filter more hip than to have no color whatsoever.

18. Next Issue: This app and service combines the all-you-can-consume subscription model of Netflix with magazines, providing the latest issues of many publications available at a flat rate. Monica Stevens loved it: “I don’t have to pick through every stand of the supermarket endcap while my groceries get loaded onto the moving black belt. Next Issue’s mags don’t pile up on my nightstand, either. Next Issue’s offerings are also far more wide-ranging and enjoyable than Apple’s Newstand. Finding viable options for light flight eye-fare is tiresome when the choices are so few.”

17. Byword: The Mac text editor jumped to iOS in 2012, bringing with it a fantastic experience for quickly writing in plain text and Markdown. The latter is especially possible with its great keyboard toolbar for quick access to common formatting. The iCloud and Dropbox support means that writing can be taken anywhere, no matter its starting point. I personally type up everything I write in this app’s various permutations, even on the iPhone 5 sometimes.

16. Clear: This to-do list app eschews complexity, preferring a simple and stylish experience. Superior to writing things down on paper, for those who just wanted a very easy way to list what they needed to do and mark it off when they were done, Clear is the solution. Later updates provided additional themes and iCloud sync to the Mac version to free up those lists. As well, the app had a decided influence on other productivity apps that tried to mimic its minimalist design.

15. Bankr Personal Finance: This finance app makes the list thanks to it being not just handy for tracking expenses and monitoring budgets, but for its steady improvements through updates. For example, an update in October, which won our Editor’s Choice award, added Siri and Reminders integration to the app. Angela LaFollette says “There’s not much that this app can’t do. Honestly, I couldn’t find anything to not like about Bankr Personal Finance. ... All in all, it’s powerful, well-designed, refreshing and it just made my life a lot easier. Keep tabs on your money by keeping this app around on the home screen.”

14. Creatorverse: The creators of Second Life jumped on to iOS with a physics sandbox app that impressed our Lisa Caplan: “Creatorverse‘s unique sandbox style may mean it’s more fun for kids (or kids at heart), it’s the creative possibility that makes it so engaging. Whether uses wish to make a simple pinball-style game or a short animation, it’s a neat concept that lets users explore their artistic side.”

13. Readability: While it has existed as a web service for some time, the app is a fantastically engrossing experience for quickly and easily reading some of the internet’s best writing. Lisa Caplan praised it in her review: “It’s a pure, simple, and beautiful reading experience, particularly for longer articles and in-depth reports. Yes, Readability’s app was worth the wait. It’s also completely free, so download it.”

12. Things 2.0: A free update to the existing Things app, the new Things Cloud feature freed to-do lists from an individual device and made them available anywhere a user used the app. Ruairi O’Gallochoir says “…my love for Things was only reaffirmed with the 2.0 update. Users are sure to appreciate the Cloud Sync features, its amazing interface and its powerful task management tools. Although some may be deterred by its fairly expensive price tag, once you see past it and realise you are paying for an extremely well designed app you might be able to justify the decision with yourself.”

11. Jasmine: iOS 6 stripping out Google services entirely made for a great entry point for third-party developers to jump in with apps that improve on the official experience. Jasmine would be notable if only thanks to its sleek interface, but for two killer features: one, it can play videos that are otherwise made unavailable on mobile. Two, it can play the audio from videos after the app is minimized. The app’s core features are available for free in a universal app. It’s the best way to check out YouTube on iOS.

New App: Readtime Helps You Manage Your Reading List

Posted by Rob LeFebvre on August 27th, 2012
iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad

Is it weird that we need to have a time management app to deal with our time management apps? Maybe, but this is a pretty cool idea, nonetheless.

Set a duration and Readtime intelligently queues up just the right number of articles to fill the remaining time so that you can focus on reading.

When you've finished reading an article, simply swipe to archive it and if there's enough time remaining, Readtime will serve up another.

Once you start using Readtime, you'll be surprised how quickly you get through that pile of articles you've been saving to read later.

Ten Apps To Take Advantage of the New iPad Retina Display

Posted by Carter Dotson on March 19th, 2012

With the launch of the new iPad and its Retina Display, it may take some time for apps to catch up with the new high-resolution art requirements. Not for these ten apps, which have all been updated to support the new iPad's high-resolution screen.

ABC Player: Want to catch up on ABC shows, but don't want to lose out on resolution? Well, the ABC app now supports the new iPad Retina Display, which should make high-resolution video available from the app shine. It would even be possible, if ABC supports it, to stream 1080p, which is even higher resolution than what local ABC stations display at.

Pandora: How would a music app benefit from a higher-resolution display? Well, it might not, but choosing and discovering new artists and songs to play will look better than ever. As well, the LTE in the new iPad means higher-quality audio is easier to stream while on the go.

Pulse: This news aggregator recently added support for local content, but it got a second update this week adding support for the new iPad. Image previews for articles come through clearer than ever, and reading articles is even easier now with sharper text.

Evernote: The popular service for sharing notes, audio recordings, and pictures to the cloud supports the new iPad with its latest update. Now, all that shared content can be pulled down and viewed more crisply than ever. Well, besides the audio, the Retina Display won't change the sound. Apple can only do so much.

Readability: Don't lose any viewability when viewing the web through this app's easier reading experience. The 1.0.3 update introduces Retina Display support, making the title of the app continue to ring true.

iA Writer – One of the finer writing apps available for iPad, this crisp and clear writing app loses none of its visual fidelity on the new iPad. As a bonus, it now is universal for the iPhone and iPod touch, and still supports iCloud for syncing between devices as well as the Mac version of the software.

Tweetbot: Arguably the best third-party Twitter app available, Tapbots has updated the assets to make the iPad version of their client shine. The new update also brings live streaming of new tweets, but only over wifi, so no need to worry about wasting that LTE data plan.

Kindle: Still not giving in to the Apple ecosystem entirely? Well, good news: at least one third-party ebook service is supporting the new iPad, so Kindle books will read clearer than ever. Well, the text will be. The actual content may still be confusing.

BeoClock: Normal alarm clocks are just too low resolution to be any good any more. Wake up to a beautfiul alarm clock displayed by the iPad's Retina Display, and possibly everything in the world will be more beautiful. Or everything will pale in comparison to this alarm clock's beauty. Either way, it'll probably look really nice.

CalcBot: Tapbots' calculator app may just be the most beautiful calculator on earth, and with its new update, the new iPad can display it in full Retina Display glory. It makes the TI-89 look even more pathetic by comparison. Plus, the iPad doesn't have a built-in calculator app, so this really comes in handy!

This Week at 148Apps: February 27-March 2

Posted by Chris Kirby on March 5th, 2012

This week at 148Apps.com, we checked out the long-awaited release of Readability, via a quick overview and full review from Lisa Caplan. Caplan writes, "The app provides the same service and merges seamlessly with the web versions. Users open to a blank page with just a menu. Filling the app is the the reader’s job. Users can search the web or enter an URL manually. The app pulls the article, pretties it up, and places a lead-in on the home screen.

I found it faster to just surf on my Mac adding articles that appealed as I found them, but how one fills the app is a small matter. What Readability does with the content is the cool bit. I tested the universal build on an iPad and it works wonderfully in both orientations. In landscape the articles fill the main pane and a well-designed and unobtrusive sidebar has the menu. In portrait the sidebar is a tiny top bar."

Read our full review on 148Apps.

Meanwhile, our sister site Giggleapps.com dug deep into the garden of apps and came up with a review of The Giant Turnip: A Kidztory Classic Animated Interactive Storybook. Reviewer Amy Solomon says, "As always, the look of this app is delightful, with wonderful colors and textures and fun use of music incorporated into a style utterly recognizable as a Kidztory storybook. I appreciate the warm browns and green shades seen in the land where the turnip is planted, along with the noticeable brush strokes for a lovely effect. Possibly more so than other apps from this series, nothing is flat-looking within this app as every animal or other detail has its own imperfect texture that layered together on the page really brings a richness to this story that adults may enjoy even more than their children."

Read the full review on Giggleapps.com.

Finally, 148Apps.biz updated GameSpy's progress on its GameSpy Open platform. Brad Hilderbrand writes, "Today GameSpy announced that there are over 600 titles in development for its year-old GameSpy Open platform. The stable of upcoming titles includes games like Warm Gun, Skullgirls and more, with a total of 1200 developers hard at work on new projects."

Read more on 148Apps.biz.

The old week is done. Bring on the new week, with the promise of the iPad 3 just around the corner. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest reviews, news items and contests right when they happen. See you next week!

Readability Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Lisa Caplan on March 2nd, 2012
Our rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar :: READING BEAUTIFIED
It's been a long battle getting Readability's app approved by Apple. Now that it's out, was it worth the wait?
Read The Full Review »

Not Just a Browser Plug-in Anymore, Readability Launches iOS App

Posted by Lisa Caplan on March 1st, 2012

Following a year long approval battle with Apple over it’s subscription service, Readbility made its App Store debut today. The web-based service that provides users with a stripped-down, clean view of any web article and allows saving for offline reading has been around for several years and is integrated into many apps, but a native iOS version was hard-won.

If you're familiar with iOS 5’s reader option, now built into Safari, or if one has used apps like Instatpaper and Read It Later, there’s really nothing you haven't seen before. The app is not as feature-rich as some alternatives, but it’s free, pretty, and handy. The app allows for URL input and minimal web searching, but using any of the browser plug-ins on a computer helps fill the reading list best.

Readibility states on their blog today, “We wanted to create something that makes it as easy as possible to queue up and take web articles anywhere you go on your iPhone or iPad. Our guiding principle was simple: get out of the reader’s way.”

Readability for iOS was born of a collaboration between the Readability team and Teehan+Lax. The typography, from Hoefler & Frere-Jones, looks sharp.

We’ll have a complete review for you soon, but in the mean time if you try it out, please let us know what you think in the comments.