Yo Dawg, I heard you like Apps so we made an App that helps you get Apps.

Seriously though, I decided to review this originally because it’s part of the RateMyApp system (Consider yourself disclosed), and I got entirely too excited about the possibility of loading up any App info simply by its icon.

Since most people only look at App Icons when they’re already inside the App Store, I don’t think that this will get crazy popular. However, for those of us who encounter App Icons more frequently, this was quickly going to become my go-to App to save all those precious snaps to load up later at my leisure. Except, no, sigh.. it doesn’t do that.

As I did read the reviews on iTunes before I downloaded, I knew what I was getting into. My dreams of snapping a pic of a friend’s Springboard to be able to quickly load the App info later were quickly dashed, but I got the App anyways, hoping to test it out and then give the developers a good what-for and suggestion-rich review. So here goes:

#1 For the love of God, let me save my Snaps. I want to be able to use this like an App-Specific notebook where I can spend all week loading up my iPhone with ‘Apps to check out’ and then be able to load the info up in-App. I can’t even take a Snap unless I’m connected to the internet, this is crap. Fix it. Do it now.

#2 Maybe it’s just me, but I find that it’s difficult to hold the iPhone with one hand while trying to click on the teeny tiny “camera’ button. How about this – you should make it so touching anywhere on the ‘shaded’ part of the screen takes the photo. Seriously, this would be fantastic.

Here are a few screen shots, where you can see the image recognition is pretty darn good. Although the actual App I was snapping was the 2nd choice, you can see why it’s given each option. Pretty cool.

I know this concept isn’t new. uQuery, and many other app review sites are starting to include QR Code to launch the App Store with all the App info just by using QR Code Apps on the iPhone. This is basically the same thing, only better because it’s compatible with *every single site*, so long as they include the App Icon. Which un-ironically I haven’t included for this App in this review.

Until the folks at AppSnap include saving of snaps, for loading later, I’m sorry but I just can’t recommend you download this App. Even if it is only 99¢, which is a deal. As portions of this review will be appearing on the iTunes store, I hope that the developers heed my suggestions and update this thing soon.

At which time, it could be a serious contender for one of my ‘Favorite Apps‘ if they did. Please. Pretty Please?

See the end of this post to win this App for Free!

Pen Pals is exactly what it sounds like – write out a message (include a picture or audio recording if you like) and fire it off into the world, who knows where it will end up or who you will meet. It’s like Omegle or Chatroutlette for the iPhone (only, hopefully with significantly less genitalia).

I think we can all agree that some of the mystery and fun of the early days of the internet was that you could have whole conversations with strangers. Chat rooms and Instant Messengers were full of unknown persons just waiting to be interacted with. This is what Pen Pals brings back from the dead, and into the palm of your hand. Whoa, that sounded a little too much like a marketing tagline. But it’s true.

I’m going to compare this App to Twitter for a second, I hope you follow. I think that most people can agree that half the fun of sending out little messages to the world about where you are, what you’re eating, or what you’re thinking is thinking that maybe there’s someone out there who cares, or finds that interesting. I think that having this App has made me think that is more true. If I see something funny, or drink something smelly, I can just send out a little message to No One In Particular, and hope for a reply – or better yet, maybe I’ll get a “These Fries are Awesome” message in my own Inbox. That’s a little bit delightful to me.

Obviously this App isn’t for everyone. As I’m a little bit socially inept in my real life, I find this digital interaction quite appealing, but maybe that’s just me.

And now, about the App itself. This thing is beautiful. One of the things I like to point out is the difference between paid Apps and Free Apps, and this is a paid App for a reason. They layout is brilliant, the graphics are colourful and clean, and the entire thing runs smoothly. See the Demo Vid & Screenshots:

The setup is quick, just add your own username and decide to share your location or not. Then fire off a message. They say the more messages you send, the more you’ll receive. I assume this is dependent on the number of users on the App at any given time, because I sent out 3 messages in the spam of 8 hours and didn’t receive a single reply, or random message for an additional 8. When I did hear from people though, I got messages from all over the globe – as you can see from the last screenshot above.

Another great reason that this is a paid App is that it weeds out the spammers. Only people really interested in having actual other Pen Pals will spend the $1.99. For more information on the Developers, or the App, find it on iTunes or The Dos Hombres website. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these guys chug out a few more pristine Apps in the future, they’ve got skillz.

Overall I think this is a quality fun App, I think the developers put a lot of time and thought into it and it’s really worth the two bucks – so if what I’ve described sounds appealing, I definitely recommend you try it out. And who knows, maybe you’ll become one of my Pen Pals!

Or you could just Comment Here, or tweet me about this article, and you can win one of two Promo Codes I have to give away – it’s that easy! Contest Open until the codes are gone!

However what I did not realize while I was away is this:
TweetDeck got Effing Brilliant.

This review is not strictly about TweetDeck for iPhone, although to be sure it is one of, if not the, best free Twitter Apps out there (Lets just see Tweetie, er, I mean Twitter for iPhone try and beat it). No, this review is also very much about the Desktop program too, because one wouldn’t be anything without the other.

I think a fitting return to the realm of blogging about iPhone Apps would be to do so about an App that needs no help from me. TweetDeck is one of the best, and most popular Apps out there. So why choose it as my first topic? Simply because it was the first one to really, really impress me. While setting up the relaunch of iPhoneAppGirl and literally dusting off my Twitter feed, I realized that I would needed a reliable Twitter iPhone App, and quickly went to download my old standbys, Tweetie and TwitterFon (which honestly, I didn’t know had changed its name to EchoFon – huh). I also stumbled upon HootSuite, after seeing quite a few ow.ly urls. I used these for about 24hrs, and then I remembered about TweetDeck.

Here is a dramatization (in 140 characters or less) of my reaction to each:

Tweetie: Oh yah it costs money… sigh, nevermind.
TwitterFon EchoFon: Ol’ Reliable, this will work out just fine.
HootSuite: Hey, this is pretty slick. Would you have a look at that – an web-based portal too!*
TweetDeck: Holy Mother of! This is awesome. And the Desktop program can sync with my Facebook and/or Facebook Pages, how does this not cost cash money?

*To be fair, HootSuite is like TweetDeck: Browser Version, sort of. I mean its an ok replacement if you’re stranded at your Aunts house for Thanksgiving, and you don’t have access to your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad/Laptop, and want to stay fully updated on all aspects of your twitter account.

The thing that perhaps impressed me the most, besides not costing me any money, was the integration with other Social Media sites, other than Twitter. It’s nice having just one Page/App open to keep track of all the people I ‘Follow’ and ‘Friend’. I created a Facebook Page for iPhoneAppGirl and wanted to import my tweets to it, while also realizing that my actual Facebook Friends were going to get pretty sick & tired of hearing about iPhone this and Apple that 10+ times a day – Enter TweetDeck. Because of it’s cross-site integration I actually don’t even need to import my actual tweets, I just happen to tweet the same thing that I’m sending to a) my Facebook Status or b) my Facebook Page Status. Or Neither. Brilliant!

Nobody is perfect, and that is certainly true of TweetDeck too. The one feature I’m most excited about on the Desktop program, the aforementioned Facebook Page Status Updates is not actually available on the iPhone App, however is listed as one of their most requested features, so lets hope that’s coming in the next version.

In the meantime though, seriously TweetDeck, you keep being you. Thanks, from the bottom of my cold nerdy heart, for getting me excited about iPhone Apps again. Which is great, because I run this website…