iBank for iPad is out, and available now in the app store! Unfortunately, at the minute, that's about all the good news there is.
Firstly a quick rundown on iBank. iBank is one of a number of finance tracking software packages, if you're interested in the finer details you can take a look at http://www.iggsoftware.com/ibank/. Briefly though, in my opinion, it's an interesting piece of software which tries really hard to have a pleasing aesthetic, and does so with a fair amount of success. It also has some simple, but interesting, touches that I like. For example on a net worth report it'll tell you if you're trending towards saving more or spending more money. But it has some really odd limitations as well - no real landing or home page where you can see everything at a glance. No calendar view. No way to have a report which graphs which categories you've spent your money on in prior months.
iBank for iPad continues along the same vein, but in a far more extreme way. It does things in a very pretty way (for a finance app). It has some neat little features. But many of the basics are horribly overlooked, or indeed absent.
Firstly syncing. The iPad version syncs with the Mac version. Well, kind of. It syncs transactions & accounts. It doesn't sync budgets. It doesn't sync reminders. This means that you kind of need to either use one or the other. Do not buy the iPad version thinking it'll provide a convenient supplemental way to manage your Mac iBank accounts. For example, marking off bills (scheduled transactions) as paid on the iPad while sitting on the couch would seem to me to be the perfect use case for iBank on iPad. Without being able to sync all your existing scheduled transactions though.... It's not going to happen. Same goes for budgets, they don't sync. (I personally find setting up budgets in any finance application very annoying, so I'm certainly not re-doing it for the iPad version of iBank.)
Ok, so if you give up on syncing and think of iBank for iPad as a complete replacement for the Mac version - does it fare any better? Well, there's a wizard for setting up a budget and scheduled transactions all at once. Good idea, saves some work. The basic home/landing page on iPad is fairly basic - but it's still a step up from that available in the Mac version. It's a bit slow when updating transactions. (At least on an iPad 2) Entering some types of data is pretty clumsy - there's no calendar to choose a date from, you can only type in numbers. Reports are... Well, "missing" would be the best description. A finance app that doesn't let you compare your net worth for the previous year? Or the total of all your savings accounts. Or a breakdown of income vs expenses. Or pretty much anything else you might want to track your finances for? Interesting design choice that one.
To be fair, for each individual account you can see a graph of the total amount at the start (or end?) of each month. For a six month period. Or eight months if you use your iPad in landscape mode. You can't change to weeks. You can't change the scale. You can swipe backwards and look through any previous block of six/eight months at a time, but that's it. Also under the budget screen, you can see your total ingoing/outgoings in the same limited manner.
Limited is really what springs to mind whenever I try and use this app. Due to the lack of desktop syncing functionality it doesn't make a very good addition to the desktop client. Due to it's lack of reporting options it doesn't make a very good stand alone option. I think it kind of makes it a bit pointless in its current incarnation.
Hopefully in six months time once Igg Software has done some updates it'll become a useful tool. As it stands currently it's nothing more than an interesting tech demo of what they want their iPad app to be. At $15 I'd say this makes it a very unwise purchase.
I'm actually surprised they released it as is. I know there was a lot of pent up demand for an iPad version of iBank but I can't imagine that charging people $15 for software that's in this state is going to give customers a positive opinion of the company.
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Speck ToughSkin for iPhone 4 Review
A few weeks ago when I received an email letting me know that the Speck ToughSkin for the iPhone 4 was finally available, I was very excited. I loved the ToughSkin for my 3GS, when I initially heard there was going to be an iPhone 4 version... Well, see here for some of my raving about it. Needless to say I ordered one straight away. I've been living with it on my phone for a couple of weeks now, but I'm not nearly as happy with the iPhone 4 version as I was with the 3GS one.
The "case" actually consists of three parts. First up is a hard thin plastic shell case that clips to the iPhone, providing protection by itself, but also having some ridges moulded into it to give the main silicone case some grip. This snaps on very easily, adding minimal bulk to the phone - which is a good thing as it's actually held on so tightly it's very difficult to remove.
Next up is a silicone case. The iPhone pops in and out of it easily, but not too easily as with the OtterBox Defender I had. The silicone fits snugly and looks quite well integrated with the phone as a whole.
Finally there's a holster/stand into which you can mount the iPhone either screen in or out. (No pictures of this.) It seems to hold the phone relatively securely, but I'm not the kind of person who wears my phone in a holster so I've not actually tried it out.
So there's some good and some bad with the new iPhone 4 ToughSkin. (I can't help comparing it against the 3GS ToughSkin.) The first case layer is really quite nice. It's just a thin shell with good clearance cut outs around all the switches and cameras - it doesn't cover any of the buttons. The ridges and bumps that are incorporated to give the outer silicone case some purchase also give your hand some. I was always vaguely worried about the naked iPhone 4 slipping out of my hand. At the same time, because it's a simple hard plastic case, it's still very easy to slip in and out of your pocket. I leave my phone in this layer all the time now. Though I must admit, this is partly because even though it's a bit of a struggle to get the iPhone into its "jogging" case with that layer on, it's easier than getting that first layer of ToughSkin off.
Overall the system used on the 4 version is much better than the 3GS version, where the inner "case" was really just a flimsy frame with some lugs on it to hold the silicon. This new first layer is all good. Unfortunately, its not why I bought the case. Even more unfortunately it's about all the "good" that there is left in the product.
The outer silicone case is really what the ToughSkin is all about, the rest is just there to support the silicone. Either physically, or just to round out the overall "do anything" package that the ToughSkin is meant to represent. My biggest gripe with the case is that's it's significantly less grippy than the 3GS one was. You could throw the 3GS ToughSkin down on almost anything, at any angle, and it would grip and cling there like a spider. It was fantastic. (It also made it a pig of a thing to put in your pocket, but I was happy to make that tradeoff.)
The ToughSkin for iPhone 4? Well, you can put it in your pocket much easier. If you throw it down on something it's more likely to bounce off than stick and grip. If you leave it on the dash of your car it'll slide roll and tumble.
I'm not that clumsy Speck. I don't really need all that extra rubber around the phone because I drop it every three steps. I want it there so my phone is super grippy and will stay where I put it, regardless of how precarious a location I decide to leave it. It doesn't do this, so the case fails at the primary purpose I bought it for.
Adding further salt to the wound, the case isn't flat on the back. Another positive of the 3GS ToughSkin was that it took a phone with a rounded back and made it flat. This meant that you could type on it while the phone was sitting on a desk without it rocking around crazily. The iPhone 4 lies flat without a case, but speck have made the back of the ToughSkin 4 with 3 flat panels. It's not quite a curve, but it still has enough shape that the phone rocks and moves side to side if you're trying to type on it while on a desk. Very annoying and anti-utilitarian. Worse still the "Speck" branding is right in the middle of the case, and slightly raised, adding more to the rocking abilities of the case. Letting your branding interfere with your product is a massive fail as far as I'm concerned - it just associates a negative experience with your brand. I look at the way the way the silicone portion of the iPhone 4 ToughSkin case is designed and shake my head sometimes.
So overall: Fit and finish is great. The inner hard case is really quite nice (something I wasn't counting on). The multiple inner plastic to outer silicone attachment points really help the silicone case to fit well. To my mind the styling isn't as aggressive as the 3GS version - it's more stealth fighter than rock crawler tyre. Functionally it seems as though it'd be very protective in a drop situation, but far far more prone to sliding off something and falling than the 3GS version.
I'm keeping it on my phone for now, but I'm still casting my eye around for an iPhone 4 case that captures all the good qualities of the iPhone 3GS ToughSkin. It's just a shame that the iPhone 4 version isn't that product.
The "case" actually consists of three parts. First up is a hard thin plastic shell case that clips to the iPhone, providing protection by itself, but also having some ridges moulded into it to give the main silicone case some grip. This snaps on very easily, adding minimal bulk to the phone - which is a good thing as it's actually held on so tightly it's very difficult to remove.
Next up is a silicone case. The iPhone pops in and out of it easily, but not too easily as with the OtterBox Defender I had. The silicone fits snugly and looks quite well integrated with the phone as a whole.
So there's some good and some bad with the new iPhone 4 ToughSkin. (I can't help comparing it against the 3GS ToughSkin.) The first case layer is really quite nice. It's just a thin shell with good clearance cut outs around all the switches and cameras - it doesn't cover any of the buttons. The ridges and bumps that are incorporated to give the outer silicone case some purchase also give your hand some. I was always vaguely worried about the naked iPhone 4 slipping out of my hand. At the same time, because it's a simple hard plastic case, it's still very easy to slip in and out of your pocket. I leave my phone in this layer all the time now. Though I must admit, this is partly because even though it's a bit of a struggle to get the iPhone into its "jogging" case with that layer on, it's easier than getting that first layer of ToughSkin off.
Overall the system used on the 4 version is much better than the 3GS version, where the inner "case" was really just a flimsy frame with some lugs on it to hold the silicon. This new first layer is all good. Unfortunately, its not why I bought the case. Even more unfortunately it's about all the "good" that there is left in the product.
The outer silicone case is really what the ToughSkin is all about, the rest is just there to support the silicone. Either physically, or just to round out the overall "do anything" package that the ToughSkin is meant to represent. My biggest gripe with the case is that's it's significantly less grippy than the 3GS one was. You could throw the 3GS ToughSkin down on almost anything, at any angle, and it would grip and cling there like a spider. It was fantastic. (It also made it a pig of a thing to put in your pocket, but I was happy to make that tradeoff.)
The ToughSkin for iPhone 4? Well, you can put it in your pocket much easier. If you throw it down on something it's more likely to bounce off than stick and grip. If you leave it on the dash of your car it'll slide roll and tumble.
I'm not that clumsy Speck. I don't really need all that extra rubber around the phone because I drop it every three steps. I want it there so my phone is super grippy and will stay where I put it, regardless of how precarious a location I decide to leave it. It doesn't do this, so the case fails at the primary purpose I bought it for.
Adding further salt to the wound, the case isn't flat on the back. Another positive of the 3GS ToughSkin was that it took a phone with a rounded back and made it flat. This meant that you could type on it while the phone was sitting on a desk without it rocking around crazily. The iPhone 4 lies flat without a case, but speck have made the back of the ToughSkin 4 with 3 flat panels. It's not quite a curve, but it still has enough shape that the phone rocks and moves side to side if you're trying to type on it while on a desk. Very annoying and anti-utilitarian. Worse still the "Speck" branding is right in the middle of the case, and slightly raised, adding more to the rocking abilities of the case. Letting your branding interfere with your product is a massive fail as far as I'm concerned - it just associates a negative experience with your brand. I look at the way the way the silicone portion of the iPhone 4 ToughSkin case is designed and shake my head sometimes.
So overall: Fit and finish is great. The inner hard case is really quite nice (something I wasn't counting on). The multiple inner plastic to outer silicone attachment points really help the silicone case to fit well. To my mind the styling isn't as aggressive as the 3GS version - it's more stealth fighter than rock crawler tyre. Functionally it seems as though it'd be very protective in a drop situation, but far far more prone to sliding off something and falling than the 3GS version.
I'm keeping it on my phone for now, but I'm still casting my eye around for an iPhone 4 case that captures all the good qualities of the iPhone 3GS ToughSkin. It's just a shame that the iPhone 4 version isn't that product.
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| Phone Bottom - Plenty of room around dock connector. 3 sided back clearly evident. |
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| Nice amount of room around headphone jack. Noise cancelling mike may be a little obscured. |
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Woogie Review
The Griffin Woogie is an iPod touch or iPhone case with a built in amplified speaker, all packaged in a soft toy:
My first issue with the case is the volume of the speaker. It's pretty quiet. I didn't expect it to be loud (don't want to hurt the kiddies ears) but it's not even as loud as the built in speaker on my iPhone 4. It's really too soft for in-car use, which was one of the main reasons I bought it. Maybe the low volume is meant to lull kids to sleep?
The battery box and other hardware are non removable, which means that there's no chance of dropping the Woogie into the washing machine. You can wipe the outside with a damp cloth and that's about it. To be fair, the case has been remarkably good at shrugging off small spills, but I still think it's a big oversight on a plush product designed for children.
The switch to turn the Woogie on and off is also at the wrong end of the battery box. Meaning that you need to fully remove the box from its pouch whenever you wish to turn the Woogie on or off. You need to do that a lot as well, otherwise the batteries go flat, it's got some serious phantom power drain issues. I expected that you could leave the Woogie turned on and it would only use batteries when playing music, or plugged into an iPod, but that's not the case at all. If you don't turn it off at the switch the batteries will be flat in a day or two.
On the positive side, the battery box does tuck tidily away into a neat little pouch. And while I think the audio plug should have been located inside the iPod/iPhone pouch the cord isn't really long enough to be a problem. Before I got the Woogie I was concerned that it might be a choking/strangling hazard, or that the cord would just get caught on things and yank out of the iPod all the time. That's really not the case though, it's never been accidentally removed in use.
I can live with most of the products shortcomings, but the lack of volume from the speaker is really disappointing. Speaker volume should be part of the basic functionality of this thing, but it's really its achilles heel. I think it's a great idea but it just wasn't thought through that thoroughly. I still use it a fair bit - but mainly with a first gen iPod touch which wouldn't have any sound otherwise.
Cute and well manufactured, but not that well designed.
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| Griffin Woogie |
I've had a Woogie for a few months now, and have some fairly mixed feelings towards it. I think the case is very cute, and my 2.x year old loves it - as a soft toy. As a case and powered speaker designed for toddler though, it's got some shortcomings.
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| There's a speaker in there. Somewhere. |
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| Non removable battery box. |
The switch to turn the Woogie on and off is also at the wrong end of the battery box. Meaning that you need to fully remove the box from its pouch whenever you wish to turn the Woogie on or off. You need to do that a lot as well, otherwise the batteries go flat, it's got some serious phantom power drain issues. I expected that you could leave the Woogie turned on and it would only use batteries when playing music, or plugged into an iPod, but that's not the case at all. If you don't turn it off at the switch the batteries will be flat in a day or two.
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| Tidy little slot for inserting battery box. |
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| Battery box halfway into its pouch. |
I can live with most of the products shortcomings, but the lack of volume from the speaker is really disappointing. Speaker volume should be part of the basic functionality of this thing, but it's really its achilles heel. I think it's a great idea but it just wasn't thought through that thoroughly. I still use it a fair bit - but mainly with a first gen iPod touch which wouldn't have any sound otherwise.
Cute and well manufactured, but not that well designed.
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