This week’s free iPod/iPhone App to review is: AppBox LITE: 10 useful Apps in one application.
App’s Description
10 handy tools in one App!
✔CURRENCY
– 195 Currency codes and 3 metals
– Update Option(Automatic/Manual)
✔ DATE CALCULATOR
– Days between dates
– Adding days to date
– Day of Week
– Lunar(Chinese)/Solar Converter
✔ DAYS UNTIL
– Photo View & Table View
– Flip View for remaining or past dates
✔ HOLIDAYS
– 83 countries and Jewish calendar.
– Holiday rules changing every year in the world for example, Easter day, Chinese Lunar Calendar, Islamic Calendar and Jewish Calendar.
✔ CLINOMETER
– Two Levels: Surface and bubble
– Three types of units
– Calibration
– Lock / Unlock
✔ LOAN
– Amortization Tab with Pie Chart
– Comparison Tab with Bar Chart and Pie Chart
– Amortization Schedule View
– Mail Send View
✔ PRICE GRAB
– Bar Chart for price, quantity, and unit price
– Circle chart based on unit price
✔ pCALENDAR
– Menstrual cycle calendar also known as fertility calendar
– Indicates days with increased probability of getting pregnant
– Makes predictions of upcoming dates
– Keeps records of previous cycles
✔ TIP CALC
– Tax Option
– Split Option
✔ UNIT
– Area, Length, Pressure, Temperature, Volume, Weight
OWC Chris’s Review
This is one of those apps that really doesn’t “wow” you that much, but is handy to have when you need it. I’ve already whipped out (Sorry. No video link here, despite the obvious Blazing Saddles reference) the ol’ iPod Touch a couple of times to work out a tip, check how long until my mom’s birthday, and to convert a few measurements cooking, so for a free app, it’s been pretty useful.
Sure there are tools I will likely never use, such as the currency converter, loan calculator and the fertility calendar. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there someone that would use them. There is, however, no excuse for the UGLY interface that looks like the bastard love child of Palm OS and Fremont Street, Las Vegas.
Hideous interface aside, however, I’ll probably keep it around. The price was right and you never know when I can make myself useful…
OWC Michael’s Review
Each app does what it is supposed to and functionality is quite intuitive, but this App doesn’t seem to have the polish and finish of something I want to keep on my device. It just looks wrong. The icons are very plain and the neon color palette looks like it belongs more on my 10 year old Samsung cell phone than on my iPod Touch. More than a few times, I actually closed the App trying to get back to the main screen. There is a button in each function to bring you back to the main screen, but it does take a little getting used to (especially since the programmer didn’t necessarily put it in the same place on each screen).
Overall, if you’re looking for these functions and don’t want to shell out the 99 cents for an app to do each individually, then this is a good toolbox for you. Personally, I’d rather have each function as a separate, fully polished App.
OWC Grant’s Review
I’ll be honest here…I looked at the list of all the tools and nothing seemed compelling enough to spend the time to download and use the app. I mean come on…a tip calculator and a pregnancy calendar? About the only tool that looked remotely interesting was the clinometer. But to me, if you’re on a steep angle to begin with, you likely know it and should be trying to figure out a way to get out of it without any damage rather than whipping out out your device to see how steep the incline is. Call me a curmudgeon, but sometimes technology gets in the way of common sense. And in this case, you really gotta be desperate or not have any other hobbies to be using this app very often.
As I end all my reviews with a rating…this app gets a big NAY.
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I love this app…nice job! I’ve used all of the tools but one of my favorites is the pCalendar! Why (and yes I’m a guy)? Cause I keep track of my wife’s cycle…very handy to know when it’s coming and “know” when to be a bit more sensitive! ;-) One suggestion is to allow tracking of more than one person. Would love to have my two daughters in there also! Thanks, Chuck
Hey Grant.
Yea, the “split the bill” feature only comes out when people start throwing money on the table without even looking at the bill, especially if the bill is lying on the table near me! :) Nobody has ever objected.
Actually, we have a regular friday after work gathering and now everybody expects my iPhone App Box to split the bill for them at that one.
The only future feature I would like to see is a “two tiered” split, so I can put in food cost and a separate “wine/beer” cost, then indicate how many are drinkers, and how many non-drinkers, with two different splits that add to the total. The non-drinkers get testy about $25-30 dollar bottle(s) of wine or pitcher(s) of Guinness added to their part of the split tab. :)
First off, I use App Box Pro, to heck with the “lite” version. If you cannot afford a buck for a multi-function app, why the heck did you get an iPhone in the first place?
Tip calculator gets used several times a week, it not only calcs the tip, but does the “split” when several folks go to lunch at work, etc.
“Days until” is used by me on large event planning and actually helps keep a greaseboard version of “days until” in the office updated accurately.
Holiday calendar gets used too, have international options plugged in for friends and clients overseas.
I have a single startup screen (“dashboard”) for App Box Pro that shows me days until my big annual event, battery level, memory, and storage in use on the iPhone, as well as upcoming holidays and current exchange rates when I start App Box up.
I use the flashlight option in the pro version too.
Have not yet played with the new Google Apps that have been added to the Pro version, but it is interesting and I will play with them when I get time.
Ugly, why, yes it is. However just as useful as it is ugly…and frankly I don’t want three or four icons cluttering the iPhone when one grouping can do all that for me. I already have six pages of apps, don’t need to add to the growing mess. I say App Box is a great deal, based on how often I use it, and if you get lite and like it, try pro.
Disclamers: I am not associated with the developer in any way, although I am an opinionated SOB and a long-time OWC customer. :)
Thanks for stopping by Greg! Hey…cool deal you like this app…that’s what makes the world an interesting place. That tip calculator split deal…that could be an entire post on the etiquette of whipping that out…or not! That maybe be one way for folks to trim down their lunch group… ;-)
Any personal insights on that? Could make you a guest poster…