By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
I've recently discovered a number of iOS apps that are so sublimely designed in terms of look, feel and function that they have given me renewed hope that we will be experiencing a renaissance in great app functionality.
Designing any smartphone app is hard, but taking stock of what everyone else has done before and creating a new and exciting way to push information to users is what makes great apps stick out. In the rush to be competitive, be first on the market, or get something shipped at whatever the cost, results in humdrum apps that lose their lustre right away.
Many of us use such apps not because we want to, but because we have to. Or, because "they just work," but this is no longer a good excuse and some app developers are doing something about it.
Take for example the Haze weather app, which is very atmospheric and has an organic feeling about it. All it does is give weather information and just in numbers, but the execution is elegant and intuitive and every animation conveys information (i.e. the rays radiate around the temperature in such a way to let you know if it is getting warmer or cooler). Haze even offers various themes that users can unlock the more they use the app, it is a small extra that adds excitement and a certain freshness to the experience.
I've just started using Any.DO's Cal app and the Any.DO to do app. These are, surprisingly, free apps that feel like experiences. Cal takes the boring and dated concept of what we expect from a calendar application and completely redefines in by using efficient layouts, smooth transitions, thoughtful typography and various intuitive touches that make going back to any calendar app feel like a trip back in time.
Check an appointment and you get various options, even a link to navigate the direction right from the app. Appointments give the date and time but also various options. The way these options flow in and out of my iPhone's screen is fluid and almost musical. I'm not one to go for animations and transitions, specially on smartphones where i feel that sort of thing would impact performance but Cal does it well.
Any.DO's to do app is a lifesaver for disorganized but busy people with endless lists of personal and business related things to do. it is one of the few apps I have tried that takes voice entry (and does so accurately), options appear when they need to, logically and quickly. Any.DO is so much fun to use, I've been making up stuff I need to do, or listing down menial tasks that I 'mean't to do' just to get to play with it.
That's really the hook, isn't it. Good apps shouldn't just be useful, they should be entertaining to a certain degree and that will differentiate them from the majority of apps out there. If you know of more of these minimalist, smart yet intuitive and fun apps out there, on any mobile platform, please let me know so I can remind myself to check them out, or at least I can add them to my Any.DO list.
Note: Any.DO is also available for Android and as a Chrome plugin while Cal is coming soon to Google Play.