If you’re looking for a shopping list app that is a bit more detailed and organized than just a simple list format, mShopping by iPhone Studio may be the perfect app for you. I have tried a few shopping lists myself, most of which escape my memory and are either lost in the menu pages of my device or deleted because I didn’t use them. I’m just not a list kinda gal. So it really surprised me when I tinkered around with mShopping by iPhone Studio and discovered that while I might not actually use it, I will definitely keep it and think about using it.
Though mShopping is like every other shopping list app in the sense that you have to manually input your items, which is extreme tedium for me, there are some pretty excellent features to mShopping that impressed me.
To begin with, I hate it when an organization or productivity app pigeonholes me into an organizational format that I can’t adapt to. Maybe I don’t like to categorize stuff or maybe I want to view a list by date or alphabetically instead of categorically. What I’m saying is, I want a bit of flexibility and I am impressed with mShopping and its ability to adapt.
Here are the features I appreciated most: You can assign each item a price and attach a memo or note to it, and all this information can be viewed from the mShopping home screen. It also includes specific fields for information such as make and model number as well – totally useful for items like vacuum cleaner bags, printer cartridges, and weed whacker line.
If you don’t like the order of the mShopping home screen list, you can change to view the same information categorized by date or assigned tags and categories. You also have the option of checking off items from your list and then deleting those and only those all at one time, rather than individually.
Another nice feature is the ability to go directly from the mShopping app to the web to search Amazon, Google, or Yahoo! for the item you entered. Amazon’s website is the default, but tap the page icon at the bottom of the screen and you will be given the other two options. From within this function, you can save a picture of an item from your search directly to the app, which stores up to three images for each item. This could be particularly useful if you need a pictorial reference when shopping for Christmas or birthday gifts. You can also upload photos directly from your iPhone or iPod touch.
Though mShopping doesn’t change the way I am, it has proven itself a user-friendly shopping list utility that I will most definitely keep and might just use as a wishlist if nothing else. Tap on the information icon when the app first loads for a link to the developer-created video that demonstrates available functions. There is also a free version called mShopping LE if you’d like to take a gander at the basic functions, but the paid version is the only way to get the web and image function as well as the ability to manage items by tags, category, and date.
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category: Editor’s Picks, Productivity