The dialing  scheme works and while some might find it convenient, if your goal is to save time the app falls short for price.

The purpose of FaceCall is to create photo icons on your home menu for one touch dialing (or emailing). I can see the benefit of having a photo icon stored amongst the apps on your iPhone home screen for frequently called or emailed people, especially if your contacts list and favorites is inundated with names.

Setting up and using FaceCall is simple. Once installed, you simply open the app, select a name from your contacts, choose either a phone number or email address, and then assign a photo. You can use one already assigned or take a new one.

FaceCall does not give you the option of selecting multiple numbers or a number and an email, so it is rather imperative that your photo contact only have one preferred method of contact. This isn’t a problem if your friends are always attached to a single phone, but if you find yourself dialing home, cell, work to hunt down your contacts, then FaceCall isn’t going to help solve your problem.

Regardless of how easy it is to create a photo contact icon on your home screen with FaceCall, there is one major draw back to its success. It is rather slow at accessing the contact once you tap the icon. There is a considerable delay in pulling up the number and another delay to initiate the call. In most cases, I would say it is faster to find the name and number through other means – whether through your contact list, your favorites, or speed dial.

For the $2.99 price, FaceCall falls a bit short of value. There are certainly people who could find it useful, especially for very frequently called numbers. However, because it ultimately has to access the information over the web via the created link before providing the information and initiating the call, it really it is faster to find and select a number from your contacts.

FaceCall starts off with a cool idea to put photo icons of your favorite people on your home screen, and it works pretty much as described. But with a $3 price tag, you’ll have to decide if it’s a feature that’s worth paying for.

• rating: 6/10
• app_name: FaceCall

© AppCraver, 2009. | FaceCall Puts a Face to Contacts on iPhone’s Home Screen | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Hearing the description, Babelshot appears, for all intents and purposes, to be the ideal iPhone app for translating languages. However, it has its flaws if you’re not using the right equipment.

Let me explain.

The way the captured image text translation works is by using the iPhone’s camera to take a photo from within the Babelshot app. Note, you cannot use a previously captured image from your photo library or camera roll. Once the image is captured, a text box appears to crop the text to be recognized and translated. If it doesn’t recognize the text correctly, it asks you to manually edit the text to create the correct entry.

Babelshot’s photo translator works great if you have an iPhone 3GS, but use anything else and the images won’t be sharp enough for the optical character recognition system to work. If you want to use Babelshot with an iPhone 3G or earlier, you’ll need a way to improve the camera’s macro capabilities.

Even if you’re not blessed with an iPhone 3GS, you can still use Babelshot’s manual translation while you wait for your Clarifi case from Griffin Technology.

The other thing to remember is that the iPhone’s picture quality is limited in less than perfect lighting, so the efficiency of Babelshot may be compromised in low-light situations, such as in a restaurant, or if you need to translate a bus schedule at night.

Don’t let these warnings scare you. Babelshot is user-friendly, mostly accurate, and accepts quite a bit of text for translation. As long as you own the right phone or accessories, you’ll be pleased with the features of Babelshot. And, if you do have to type in your text for translation? Well, even if you only use it as a traditional text translator, Babelshot is still a bargain at $2.99.

There are dozens and dozens of languages supported: Danish, French, English, German, Hungarian, Swahilli, Turkish, Hebrew, Chinese, Greek, and Portuguese are but a sampling of the languages Babelshot supports.

• rating: 7/10
• app_name: Babelshot

© AppCraver, 2009. | Babelshot Takes Aim at Text Translation with Photos | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

In my experience “notes apps” or thought-catcher apps like Idea Organizer fall into two categories: too many features or too few. Give me too many features, and I can’t be bothered. Why spend 5 minutes fussing around with “extras” like color-coding and cutesy icons when I can whip out a pen and paper in 2.3 seconds. However, apps with too few features aren’t any better. I’m simply not going to spend money on an app that is basically a text editor with a fancy background.

Idea Organizer manages to balance that fine line with ease. The app is designed to make taking notes quick and convenient. Nanaimo Studio knows this can mean different things to different people. So, Idea Organizer lets the user decide how to capture their ideas: text, voice or visual.

Text is a very simple editor with a space for the “Idea Title” and a description. The voice recorder is the same way, record a quick message, give it a title and you’re done. Ditto with the visual notes, which can use the built-in camera or access your photo library.

Once you’ve got your basic idea in place, you can use Idea Organizer to attach additional photos or voice notes and flesh out each individual thought. Yeah, it’s definitely pushing the line towards “extra features,” but since it doesn’t interfere with my initial note-taking process I’m going to let it slide.

At any point in the process you can email your ideas to a friend or to yourself for safekeeping. Single ideas can be sent from their Idea page, or send all your ideas as a package from the Settings Menu.

So, is Idea Organizer the productivity app that will finally make this finicky Goldilocks jump up and say “This app is just right!”?

* Idea Organizer is on sale and you can download it now for just $0.99.

Almost. I love the convenience of being able to “take notes” using the voice recorder or the camera. It’s perfect for those times when typing isn’t an option — such as on the freeway — or when the ideas are flowing faster than my fingers can fly.

Unfortunately, the home screen of the app only has room for three major icons: two for taking notes and one for viewing notes. The notepad and the view notes icons are always on, which means that third space can only be used for the voice notes or the visual notes icons. Voice notes is the default, turn on visual notes by tapping the settings button at the bottom of the screen.

Ideally, all four icons would be accessible at all times from Idea Organizer’s main menu. But, barring that I would at least like to choose which icons are present. For me, it would be visual and voice because I’m less likely to use the notepad.

I still really like Idea Organizer. In most ways, it’s the perfect example of what a productivity app should be. It allows the user to complete tasks in the way that works best for them. The technology in Idea Organizer works without issue and most importantly without getting in my way when my good ideas start streaming.

• rating: 9/10
• app_name: Idea Organizer
• app_name: $1.99

© AppCraver, 2009. | Idea Organizer Grabs Text, Voice and Visuals for Easy Notes | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

MyNewPlace.com recently released an iPhone app to compliment their website. The MyNewPlace iPhone App is a stand-alone product as it doesn’t have the ability to tie into your online identity. Despite this shortcoming, it’s a useful tool for apartment hunters.

MyNewPlace has all the standards one would expect from an apartment finding app: Zip Code or GPS-based search; results filtered by distance, price range, beds, baths, and amenities; interactive maps to compare, locate and get directions to properties; and click-to-call or email property managers.

In addition there are a few extra features to make organizing your search for the perfect apartment a little bit easier. The Notes & Photos section lets users take a quick snapshot and add a personal note which are then saved directly to the property’s listing. Properties that you tag are saved to your “favorites” for easy reference at the end of the day.

The features I appreciated most are the photos and the maps. When searching through apartment listing it doesn’t take long before everything starts to sound alike.  The ability to scroll through photos can help to narrow down your options. After photos, the next step in apartment hunting is the “drive-by.” MyNewPlace can create a map listing all the locations from your favorites so you can easily navigate to your potential new pad and check out the neighborhood. Find something you like? Go to the saved listing and tap the phone number to call the property manager from the parking lot!

There’s no denying that MyNewPlace has a lot of listings. However, for me, this app wouldn’t replace a craigslist search. Many of the listings are of the “apartment home” variety, gorgeous properties with lots of amenities. If this is what you’re looking for, then MyNewPlace will have everything you need. But if you want something a little more off the beaten path, managed by a smaller property company or individual landlord, then MyNewPlace will supplement your current apartment search plan, not replace it.

Because MyNewPlace isn’t likely to be the only place you search for apartments, I wish there was a way to add a listing to my favorites from an outside source. For instance, if I find an apartment I like through a newspaper or word of mouth I want to be able to keep the info in the MyNewPlace app. This would make the app a true information hub for any apartment hunter. 

MyNewApp also touts their ability to use Facebook Connect to let users share information about their apartment hunt on their profile pages. This has the potential to be a great feature. I would love to share favorite apartments during the search process and get feedback from friends and family. There’s one problem, though. The Facebook Connect option isn’t available until after you email the property for more information. This seems a little backwards to me and is a real limitation to the viral possibilities of MyNewPlace.

If I had to look for another apartment tomorrow — and let’s hope I don’t — I would definitely use MyNewPlace during my search. It’s not the only tool needed by tech-savy apartment hunters, but it a good tool.

• rating: 7/10
• app_name: MyNewPlace

© AppCraver, 2009. | MyNewPlace Helps Apartment Hunters Organize Their Search | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

VITO Technology releases the new 2.0 version of Task2Gather for iPhone a major upgrade with great features added. Task2Gather now has instant access to all your tasks online and offline. With the free desktop client available, all functions get synchronized on the web and on the iPhone.

Task2Gather for iPhone is a unique and powerful to-do application that allows full collaboration on the go. Take advantage of managing tasks online or use the offline mode to apply changes without requiring internet connection. Either way, tasks will stay synchronized.

Task2Gather integrates with Windows Mobile Devices and the web interface. This allows you to share tasks and manage projects also with those people who might not have an iPhone but a Windows Mobile device or are sitting in the office or at home in front of their computer and make sure that they stay on top of things with you. Please also note that all web support is free and guaranteed for you.

As another surprise for users, Task2Gather 2.0 has also been polished graphically to create a completely new look and feel.  The new design of Task2Gather will give users the feeling of an old magic book that will make all your things done.

Key features of Task2Gather 2.0:

• Gather tasks in one place and share them with your family, friends and colleagues
• Free Web version – all tasks available everywhere at any time (www.task2gather.com)
• Automatic sync with web server – you will never miss your todo
• Organize tasks and subtasks
• Assign filter and tags
• Ability to collaborate with WM users
• Discuss each task in the comments area

Task2Gather supports English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Russian. It is available for $2.99 at appstore.

• app_name: Task2Gather
• rating: NR

© AppCraver, 2009. | PR: Task2Gather releases version 2.0 with a new look and new functions | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Evernote is designed to keep notes, voice recordings, photos, and web clippings within one app and synced across multiple devices. Clip a web site on your Mac, and then view it later from within Evernote on your iPhone. Or tap out a few notes on your iPhone and then pull them up later from your Windows PC. Given that many people have two or more computers to keep in sync along with their iPhone, this is an excellent feature.

Evernote’s greatest strength is its cross-platform appeal. Along with a dedicated iPhone app there are desktop versions for both Windows and Mac. The closest thing to Evernote on the PC is Microsoft’s OneNote - an excellent notetaking app in its own right, but it lacks the over-the-air syncing and cross-platform extendability.

From within the Evernote iPhone app you can create a new text, photo, or audio note. You can take a new picture or import an existing one from the iPhone photo gallery. Notes can be assigned a name and tagged to make for easier searching. Notes created on your desktop version are available for viewing or editing – though certain notes with photos or special fonts will only allow you to append text at the end. Evernote establishes a custom e-mail and Twitter address so you can e-mail in notes or save tweets. If you are worried about heading somewhere the AT&T network coverage may be a bit spotty, mark a note as a Favorite and it will be available without an Internet connection.

An Evernote account is free (so is the app), although you get some extra perks by signing up for a $45-per-year premium account. The premium service increases the amount of data you can upload, uses SSL encryption, and removes the ads in the desktop version (a full comparison of the free and premium accounts can be found here). If you find yourself more of a casual user, then the free version will probably meet your needs.

Evernote is not perfect. It can be a bit poky at times – so much so that when I just want to write a quick note I will use the native iPhone app and then email it into Evernote (you could do the same with the new Voice memos app). Sometimes even though Evernote says your notes are all synced, the newest ones take a bit longer to show up.

Despite these minor glitches Evernote has been one of my favorite iPhone apps. It is incredibly useful and continues to get better. It is an essential productivity tool for any iPhone user.

• app_name: Evernote
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | Create and Sync Notes with Evernote | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

iWrecked – Auto Accident Assistant is an iPhone app from Vurgood Applications that allows you to easily record the details of a car accident.  Sure, a pen and paper will do, but good luck finding them in your messy glove compartment when you are stressed out.

When you have an unsettling or traumatic accident, you might also have a difficult time remembering what information to write down.  iWrecked is like a friend who asks you all the right questions; all you have to do is fill in the blanks.

iWrecked prompts you to record all the things that your insurance company will need, including the location of the accident, the other driver’s information, the police report number and witness information. iWrecked – Auto Accident Assistant has a “Notes” section if you need to write down additional details such as injuries or multiple cars involved.  iWrecked also allows you to take photos and save them as part of the accident report.

The best part about iWrecked is that it creates a PDF with the accident information that you can preview and email from your iPhone to yourself, your insurance company, or anyone else.  The insurance rep is going to love how comprehensive you are.

In addition, iWrecked can find a local tow truck or taxi as well as call 911.  Vurgood Apps says auto entry of your location via GPS is coming soon.

iWrecked has one feature that is not user-friendly:  As you enter each piece of information, such as the street, and click the save button, iWrecked saves that one detail but not the entire accident report.  You have to remember to click the save button back on the accident report main page, too, after you have entered and saved each detail.  During my test of iWrecked, I inadvertently deleted three accident histories, and I was not under duress as most accident victims are.

I do not know the statistics, but I would guess that almost everyone will be in at least one car accident at some point in their lives.  If you have an iPhone, iWrecked – Auto Accident Assistant is a handy app that can help you out in a crisis.

• app_name: iWrecked
• rating: 8/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | You Might Need iWrecked – Auto Accident Assistant | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Volunteer-O-Matic

The first audience I thought of as a perfect match for Volunteer-O-Matic were teachers and school workers. Teachers often have an endless array of classroom tasks, such as watering plants, feeding the gerbil, passing out papers, running errands, etc., that are delegated to kids each week. This is the perfect app to accomplish delegation such as that. However, as I toyed around with Volunteer-O-Matic, I started thinking of other audiences and instances where it could be handy and I came up with a few  of my own.

Volunteer-O-Matic is simple to use. You can create and edit lists by tapping List Manager and simply add the event or task and then add the applicable names to participate. Returning to the home screen, you use the scroll wheel to select the event or task and then tap “spin”.  Just like a roulette wheel, some lucky name will randomly be selected. You can also eliminate that name from the next spin and spin again if necessary. Managing lists is simple too; you just delete or edit them from within List Manager.

I’ll grant you, it takes a bit of time to set up a list – especially if there are several names and tasks involved. However, you can also just spin to select numbers 1-20 if it suits you. I would be hard pressed to say I would use Volunteer-O-Matic to decide minor things like who chooses the next family movie night or who goes first in Monopoly, but you could. It seems better suited to delegating recurring tasks or helping decide who does what for larger events.

As I said, Volunteer-O-Matic is not an app for everyone, but it does have its place in the iPhone world. It is simple to navigate, operates efficiently and if you wanted to take the time, you could get semi-creative with its uses. However, even the developer admits it’s really for the “decision making imparied.”

• app_name: Volunteer-O-Matic
• rating: 7/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | Can’t Decide Who Does What? Try Volunteer-O-Matic | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Bento

Bento, a product of Filemaker,  is most effective if you are a Mac user and plan to use it in combination with the iPhone version. Windows users are out of luck. However, there is still a lot to like from the Bento iPhone app alone if you are the organizing type. Bento will appeal to a certain crowd — those who like to put together their records, notes, class schedule, music collection, and other information. With Bento, all these various records can be updated and accessed from within one application.

Bento integrates quite nicely with some of the native iPhone applications, such as Contacts, Safari, Mail and Google Maps. The interface is clearly Mac-centric with an overview of your notes reminiscent of the iPod album cover flow. When you tap the Bento Contacts app, you will see your iPhone contacts. Through syncing with your Mac you can then add in any other contacts or calendar events. There are plenty of libraries (as Bento calls them) to choose from or you can create one from scratch. Bento is incredibly flexible with the options to input specific data fields that suit your particular tastes.

However, Bento may be a bit too much detail overload for some. Entering data means filling out long lists and categories from within the various sections. It’s great if you want to fill out your vehicle history, keep track of what is in your wine cellar, plan out your class schedule. But if you would rather throw these paper documents in a file or just tap it in your iPhone calendar then Bento may be overkill.

Those who want a less detailed experience at keeping notes and data may prefer Evernote (works across Windows, Mac, and iPhone) or Microsoft OneNote (desktop and Windows Mobile only). However, if you are already a heavy Bento user this iPhone version is pretty much a must-have.

• rating: 9/10
• app_name: Bento

© AppCraver, 2009. | Bento Organizes Your Life | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

It has been a long wait for Dataviz’s Documents To Go to arrive in the App Store. Documents To Go has been the standard on mobile platforms such as the BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile for  years. Users of the iPhone have griped since the phone’s debut about the lack of a comprehensive document editing app; especially since this technology has existed for nearly a decade (Office Mobile first debuted on the Pocket PC in 2000).

But the wait is finally over, and it has been (almost) worth it. Documents To Go does not disappoint in its interface and usability. Some of its features are not new to iPhone users: viewing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can be done from within the mail app and other existing App Store offerings. However, there are few competitors when it comes to creating and editing a document.

It is refreshing to use an app that works so well right out of the gate. Too many in the App Store debut with bugs and glitches and do not seem to hit their stride until version 2.0. Probably the biggest drawback to the current version is that it only supports editing documents. Spreadsheets are promised in a future version. On the upside Documents To Go works with nearly any version of documents: including the .docx format of Office 2007.

Documents To Go has a bit of a learning curve – it is essentially trying to be a mobile version of Microsoft Word. But the interface works well. There are three pages of options on the task bar right above the keyboard. You simply swipe to display the other choices. Highlighting is nice (it was pretty cool to have this feature a couple of days in advance of the OS 3.0 update) but can get a bit cumbersome if you don’t have laser-like precision with your finger taps. Double tapping selects a word and triple tapping selects a paragraph. If you tap and hold anywhere on screen it will bring up a magnifying glass. Once it starts to pulse, then drag it to select text.

Downloading the desktop client is essential to get the most from Documents To Go. You can select folders that synchronize with your iPhone over a Wi-Fi connection. But there is a 100MB recommended ceiling, so don’t plan on syncing your entire My Documents folder.

Documents To Go is available in two versions: the main difference being the more expensive option includes support for Microsoft Exchange attachments. So if you use email through Exchange, it would be well worth it to have the ability to edit attachments from your inbox. Dataviz also promises that if you buy Documents To Go you will receive an upgrade to Excel editing when it becomes available. And at $4.99 the scaled down version is quite the good deal.

• app_name: Documents To Go
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | Documents To Go Brings Doc Editing to iPhone | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!