Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look
First Look: Convertbot
Last October, we posted about another iPhone app -- Weightbot -- written by Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad at Tapbots. Now the company has shipped their second app, an iPhone conversion calculator called Convertbot (iTunes link).Like Weightbot, Convertbot is a classy-looking and extremely functional iPhone app. Every detail of the user interface shows obvious thought, resulting in an app that is easy to use and look at. As with Weightbot, Convertbot also features sound effects that provide an extra level of fun.
What can you convert with Convertbot? Temperature, time, volume, work, angles, area, currency, length, mass, power, pressure and speed. How do you do it? There's a rotating selector wheel on the Convertbot screen to choose the type of conversion (temperature, for example), and a button to select the units (degrees Fahrenheit, for instance). To enter the known unit, you tap the converter display to bring up a keypad for tapping in numbers. As you tap in the numbers, Convertbot is busily converting the units.
If you're an aspiring developer and want to see a well-designed app, or if you're an iPhone or iPod touch owner who just likes cool apps, check out this US$0.99 app. There are tons of conversion apps in the App Store, but Convertbot is just too nice to pass up.
See the gallery below for screenshots.
Gallery: Convertbot
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Øivind said 8:33PM on 3-26-2009
Just had to buy it. Converter, or whatever its name is, is now history. Now, if only more developers could put this much time, effort and talent into their apps ... It's nice when an application looks more like a (functional) game interface than a boring "here's a list you can scroll up and down and visit recursive lists and go back and forth a few times to set your parameters"-application.
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SuitCase said 10:31PM on 3-26-2009
Hey, it's from CityRail.
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Stanley said 8:36PM on 3-26-2009
Despite being perfectly satisfied with the conversion capabilities of PCalc , I bought a copy of Convertbot immediately after viewing the Tapbots demonstration video.
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Max said 9:28PM on 3-26-2009
Yes, this app looks really cool and sounds quite nice, but it simply doesn't work. I tried currency conversion with very odd (a.k.a. completly wrong) results. Mass, area and volume conversion also simply is not working and is allways returning 0.
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Taeun said 9:41PM on 3-26-2009
Hey Max,
This is a bug that slipped by us at the last minute. It's been fixed and 1.0.1 has already been submitted to apple. It only affects countries that use commas instead of decimals. You can read more about it along with the temporary fix here: http://tapbots.com/blog/news/ich-bin-ein-dummkopf
Øivind said 9:44PM on 3-26-2009
Same here. It's not just for mass, area and volume. Tried with speed and currency, and had the same happen. Apparently US$75 equals CAD$0. Figure they'll fix this asap as soon as the bad reviews start rolling in.
Izzy said 7:49PM on 3-27-2009
@Taeun. Great reply. Great app.
iVlad said 9:56PM on 3-26-2009
I love when designers are part of the development. very nice. i wish more developers spend time on UserInterface and design like that. =)
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John said 10:21PM on 3-26-2009
It does look nice but I'll stick with one of the free conversion apps that does the same thing since I am laid off and every $0.99 I can save, the better.
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glad said 6:54AM on 3-27-2009
I love weightbot as its a great little app will probably purchase this one after the bugs have been sorted out. These guys have a good eye for user interface design.
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heydavila said 9:18AM on 3-27-2009
Sold!
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Galley said 9:48AM on 3-27-2009
Purchased!
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karinatwork said 7:25PM on 3-27-2009
Me too! It's a little fiddly, but that's part of the fun. :)
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John Mish said 3:11AM on 6-04-2009
It's not just for mass, area and volume. Tried with speed and currency, and had the same happen. Apparently US$75 equals CAD$0. Figure they'll fix this asap as soon as the bad reviews start rolling in.
http://www.club-penguin.org/
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Korn Matt said 4:18AM on 6-03-2009
It's not just for mass, area and volume. Tried with speed and currency, and had the same happen. Apparently US$75 equals CAD$0. Figure they'll fix this asap as soon as the bad reviews start rolling in.
http://www.club-penguin.org/
Reply