The list below includes, in no particular order, some nominees from the top 10 travel apps contest for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. For the full list, please refer to the competition website. The comp is open till January 25.
Where To? - GPS points of interest
What it does: Near-omniscience for sale at a mere US$2.99. Like a traditional GPS device, this app enables you to locate almost anything nearby, including the nearest ATM, burger joint, medical provider, et cetera.
The app has information on 700 customizable categories and 2,400 brands, which sometimes allow users to get away with not typing at all when they're trying to find addresses and directions.
That said, some people have complained that the app occasionally lists wrong or outdated information.
The Cartographer
What it does: Because looks matter, this app gives Google My Maps a makeover by transplanting it in a pretty antique map interface … but wait, there's more.
The Cartographer allows you to access their customized maps offline to save roaming charges. You can also drop markers on their maps to record their travel information.
Airbnb
What it does: With its current pool of 50,000 listings covering more than 8,000 cities, it appears that Airbnb has grown leaps and bounds from its roots as a couch-swapping website for budget travelers.
Users of the website's new iPhone app can now book accommodation with a few clicks from their iPhones, with choices ranging from an extra mattress to a private island. The app's "Find a Place Tonight" feature allows people to locate properties available near them on a map with one click.
The "What's My Place Worth?" feature gives hosts rough assessments of the market value of their pad. Practical? Maybe. Boredom relief? Definitely.
Zagat to Go
What it does: Buy 1, get 44 free. Zagat to Go packs in restaurant reviews of 45 guides around the world into one nifty app, for the price of one guide. Their offline mode, which allows you to continue browsing even when you're in areas without reception, has won rave reviews among critics.
Zagat to Go also has a GPS feature that allows users to find restaurants nearby, as well as suss out top rated restaurants in different categories in each city. The app's augmented reality function allows you to see restaurant ratings through your iPhone camera.
The app is available in major U.S. cities, as well as major cities outside the States including London, Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo, and Shanghai.
The Weather Channel App
What it does: All you will need to know about weather, any way you want it. The Weather Channel App includes full screen radar weather maps, seasonal information and weather news.
The iWitness Weather function allows users to upload pictures of “exciting weather” to share online. Don’t we all love watching exciting weather online.
FlightTrack Pro
What it does: FlightTrack Pro is almost perfect for the obsessive air traveler. It can import flight data from airline confirmation emails. It has real-time status updates for gates, delays and cancellations for over 4,000 international airports. It allows users to find alternative flights at a click. Its inbuilt live flight tracker maps work even when the phone is offline.
Heck, it's even supposed to predict the future for you, by projecting flight delays based on airport warnings and historical delay forecasts.
However, there's been customer complaints that the app had incomplete and incorrect information since its update.
KAYAK Flight, Hotel Search
What it does: The multitasking Kayak.com app allows travelers to track flight statuses, book their travels, as well as find flight, hotel and car rental deals -- all for free.
Public opinion of this app swings wildly from adulation to criticism of how app developers neglected to add the "My Trips" functionality.
Packing Pro
What it does: A godsend for the absentminded traveler. The app's Expert List Assistant creates packing lists based on the number of adults, children and days. The functionality also takes into account temperature, destination, food preparation and even clothes-washing preferences. Excellent. We never have to think for ourselves again.
Those who like to be a bit more hands-on can use the app to create, edit and check off customized packing lists.
Fotopedia Heritage
What it does: This app, developed jointly by Fotonauts and UNESCO World Heritage Centre, allows those who have wanderlust (or are just plain bored) to flick through more than 25,000 photos of heritage sites with information for each location. The app also links directly to Trip Advisor for booking spur-of-the-moment trips.
Criticisms include slow loading, crashes and that it drains battery carnivorously.
Trip Journal
What it does: With Trip Journal, users can now do scrap-booking anytime, anywhere. Trip Tracking has an inbuilt GPS route-tracking function that also records points along a journey. It supports geo-tagged photos and videos.
It allows users to store as many recorded journeys as they want. And best of all, the app is wired to major social media portals, making it supremely easy to show off your travels to family and friends back at home.
Source: http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/10-top-travel-apps-396966?hpt=Sbin
It's mainly geared towards business travellers but the app that really saved my bacon is this one, the SilverDoor app. They specialise in serviced apartments London but fortunately for me, they're just as good at finding you a place to stay at short notice. There's a story behind this but the shortened version is my own idiocy, BA strikes, optimisism in the extreme and a dead laptop battery.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to say that the story didn't conclude with several other disgruntled BA passengers witnessing a middle-aged man having a tantrum in the middle of the airport....