App Review #12
My thoughts on apps I’ve been using for the past week+, all of which I’ve loved
Previous App Reviews — Week 11, Week 10, Week 9, Week 8, Week 7, Week 6, Week 5,Week 4,Week 3, Week 2,Week 1
#Homescreen (9.5/10–-FREE)—
I am constantly changing the apps on my Homescreen. As I change the layout of my apps, I always wonder what apps my friends have on their homescreen. I created a Tumblr last year where some were shared but it was disorganized and I was not able to commit the time to track the statistics on the submissions. Additionally, I’ve seen many people share theirs over Twitter but none have succeeded in collecting the statistics and metrics on peoples homescreen. That is until #Homescreen from Betaworks.
The app is extremely simple. Take a screenshot of your homescreen. Go into the app and it will detect that your most recent picture was a screenshot. It will upload your screenshot and you will have the ability to share it with friends. If you would like to see the stats on your homescreen, the app transitions to Safari use on your phone. This is my only issue with the app but it is not a big concern and I am hopeful that they will create this experience within the actual app.
In Safari, you can confirm in a list view which apps have been detected. This is not a great design in a list view as well as in Safari and I would love to see this interaction of reviewing my apps occur within the app after scanning my screenshot.
In addition to confirming your apps, you can click on a specific app in your homescreen to see the statistics regarding that app (EX: how many users of #Homescreen have Phone on their homescreen). This is by far my favorite feature. I would love if I can also connect to Facebook/Twitter and have the ability to see statistics about my network as well.
Please share your homescreen in the comments. I’d love to see what apps you have.☺
Watchville (9/10—FREE) Since I was gifted a watch for my graduation, I have gained a deep interest in the watch space. I began reading Hodinkee every day to learn more about different types of watches but there was a lack of this experience on mobile.
I believe Kevin Rose also noticed this gap and therefore created Watchville with his team. Watchville provides an amazing mobile interface of recent watch news from a variety of sources.
Additionally, as Hodinkee mentions in their review, “Watchville provides users the most accurate time possible. The app polls hundreds of atomic clocks all over the world and then averages them out to account for latency. This allows you to set your watch as precisely as possible, and gives you a great way to check if your watch is running fast or slow.
You will also see a moon phase indicator, UTC indicator, and leap year indicator, making the setting of perpetual calendars as easy as possible.”
I highly recommend the app for other watch lovers like myself.
P.S. — Kevin Rose also has a great interview with Hodinkee’s Ben Clymer you can watch here in which he discusses his passion for watches.
Draft (9/10—FREE)— Draft is taking a new approach to the Daily Fantasy Sports space with a mobile first game. The app is targeting the casual sports fan as opposed to majority of apps in this space that go after the sports fanatics. Draft can be compared to Words with Friends but instead with sports. Begin a draft, select the 1st pick and invite a friend to join. It takes just a few clicks to go through this interaction which I found to be a great experience, especially when you are not looking to do extensive research and just want a casual game.
I highly recommend the app to sports fans that are looking for a bit more action now that seasonal fantasy sports for NFL have ended. I see Draft as a great game between a father and son or two siblings that are looking to ignite a small rivalry in a fun and entertaining way as they watch football on a Sunday.
Canopy (8.5/10—FREE) — I have been an active user of Canopy’s site for the past year. As I shop for basically anything on Amazon, Canopy provides a curated selection of Amazon products in a well designed and beautiful format. I’d always wondered if they would release a mobile app and the day has finally arrived! The app is extremely minimilastic with 3 bottom tabs for explore, shop and your profile. Additionally the whitespace around the pictures helps you absord the beauty of each shot, especially with only two pictures worth of height in the app. On top of this all, the curated selection on Canopy finds diamonds in the rough on Amazon’s site, like this sweet invisible book case I bought for my apartment.
My only wish for the app is that when I click on a product, it transports me to the amazon app as opposed to going to safari on my phone.
Nonetheless, Canopy = a must have app for Amazon addicts.
Previous App Reviews — Week 11, Week 10, Week 9, Week 8, Week 7, Week 6, Week 5,Week 4,Week 3, Week 2,Week 1
