Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look, App Review
TUAW First Look: Gas Cubby 2.0
With more than 25,000 apps in the App Store (as of this writing), it's not easy to find the standouts. One such app is Gas Cubby from App Cubby (we're written about it before), and I'm very happy to have spent a week with version 2.0. It's in my top five iPhone applications (along with its sibling, Trip Cubby. But that's another post entirely). My day job requires me to keep track of automotive expenses. Before I found Gas Cubby, I was unsuccessfully trying to do so with pen and paper. I'd either take the pen out of the car and forget to return it or do the same with the notebook. I'd end up scribbling on anything I could find and promptly lose whatever it was. My accountant wasn't happy.
Gas Cubby solved the issue and actually made it fun for me to keep track of my expenses. That's right, fun. You can collect data on gas and service. First, I'll look at gas.
Update: Yes, this will be a free upgrade for current owners.
Gallery: Gas Cubby 2.0
To get started, enter information on your vehicle (you can enter more than one). Organization nerds like me will enjoy this, as you get to record your VIN, license plate ID, Insurance company, make and model, tire size and optimal pressure, service reminders (more on this later) and notes. I know some of you are smiling already.
When you arrive at the gas station, click the gas icon to enter a new fueling. Choose your vehicle and enter info like odometer, full or partial fill up, octane (custom octane ratings are available in 2.0), cost and gallons purchased. You can even chose the gas brand, the location of the station, payment type and tire pressure. When you've finished, click "Done." Here's where it gets good.
Turn the iPhone/iPod touch on its side and view a series of graphs representing the data you've entered. In version 2.0, there are five graphs in total. The first displays miles per gallon over time. You can set the X axis to display 1 week's worth of data, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or everything. Plus, there's a line that shows your average. Awesome.
With the iPhone still on its side, swipe to move from graph to graph. New in version 2.0 is the "Gas Stats Chart," which shows totals for 16 variables, like total costs, maximum and minimum MPG, miles per day and cost per mile.
The Price Per Gallon graph is my favorite, as you can track the overall cost of gas purchased (by octane) as well as the average. It's fun to see prices rise and fall, and if you go back and see where each purchase was made, it's easy to discover where the cheap gas is being sold.
Entering a service record is just as easy. Select the vehicle, type of service being done, location and so on. You can even schedule custom service reminders (a small icon reminds you when service is overdue).
But how do you get the data off of your iPhone? There are two options. First, you can email a CSV document to yourself from within the application, and new to 2.0 is online sync (a free App Cubby account is required). At tax time, when I could mail myself a full report and open it in Excel, I was very happy indeed. Other changes in version 2.0 include swipe navigation of detail views and custom setting for calculator style number pad.
I really love this application. It works beautifully, is easy to read, data entry is surprisingly quick and those charts make everything so darn useful. Even if you aren't recording data for business purposes, I'll recommend Gas Cubby. It's a useful, easy and yes, a fun way to keep track of your automotive spending.
The developers note that version 2.0 is currently in App Store Review Limbo, but they expect it to appear any time. Also, while version 1.x sold for $4.99US, the price of version 2.0 will be $9.99US. Worth it? Yes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jonvdveen said 11:11AM on 4-13-2009
"We've written about it before." A little grammar glitch there.
However, thanks for the interesting article. I may have to download this one.
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Alex said 11:15AM on 4-13-2009
Is it going to be a free upgrade for people who already bought it?
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App Cubby Team said 12:24PM on 4-13-2009
The 2.0 upgrade will be free to all existing Gas Cubby users.
david
App Cubby
mitch said 11:25AM on 4-13-2009
I have been using Gas Cubby and really like it.
I, too, wonder about the upgrade path for 1.x users.
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JTrek said 11:31AM on 4-13-2009
If you are looking to just keep track of when service is due for your vehicle, Car Minder is a great alternative. It doesn't track fuel economy but, I have another app that I use for that. Also, it is only $1.99 so, it is a bit cheaper.
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DrMongoose said 11:43AM on 4-13-2009
I have the first version, it is great. very handy app.
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JohnJohn said 11:43AM on 4-13-2009
Current User...but I want the sync feature in 2.0. I always forget to .csv the data before loading an iPhone software update. I never use the back up because I like things fresh.
Upgrade path for current users would be nice. I looked on their site can't find the user account area yet. Patience I guess is in order.
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Bob Wood said 11:58AM on 4-13-2009
Like Alex said "Is it going to be a free upgrade for people who already bought it?"?
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Stan said 12:10PM on 4-13-2009
I went with Road Trip over Gas Cubby a few months ago because I could import my old .csv data, and its stats screen is great.
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App Cubby Team said 12:25PM on 4-13-2009
We've coded and are now testing the import feature for Gas Cubby. If all goes well, it should launch some time this week along with Gas Cubby 2.0.
david
App Cubby
FightTheFuture said 5:14PM on 4-13-2009
i thought the eyeball icon on the bottom left was to utilize the iPhone's camera incase you didn't have time to type out the total. from a look at the manual it appears to be for the apps-options. would be cool to have that option.
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William said 12:43PM on 4-13-2009
Current user and fan of version 1.1; kudos to App Cubby for letting us early users upgrade for free. Not sure if I'd buy it at $9.99 if I was a new user though; $4.99 was already kind of high as it was (for App Store prices anyways).
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bud said 1:07PM on 4-13-2009
I still use Fuel Gauge. Simply because it gets to the data entry in less clicks. I like the analysis Cubby offers, but the interface complexity adds too many steps, so I do not use it.
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Matthew said 2:23PM on 4-13-2009
This would be killer if the mileage was updated automatically using GPS. Could even be partnered with a map service to provide gas station locations so you can avoid worrying about where your next fill up should be - You should get gas now because the next one will be too far to make it.
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wako said 2:27PM on 4-13-2009
You drive a C30 Dave? How did you manage to get 27mpg with Regular gas?! I have had to put in premium (Shell VPower 91) last time to reach 27mpg! last time I put regular I got a pathetic 24mpg!
Oh wait... this is about the app... uhh i think Ill will try it out :D
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MSiqueira said 3:26PM on 4-13-2009
Having used both, I prefer Road Trip over Cubby, cause (with all due respect) is a far more polished app; More accurate with decimals, the Statistics "home page" is very comprehensive and eye candy, and the data entry method is very straightforward (in a situation you normally have to be agile).
JM2c$
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Tom said 4:05PM on 4-13-2009
Does the syncing support in 2.0 mean that it can also import data? I've got 2+ years worth of gas logs for my current car that I'd want to import, and do so in an easy way. This has been the main feature of any gas logging app that I want to start using one, as the initial investment of time has been too high to have to manually enter all my past data.
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MSM said 7:16PM on 4-13-2009
I live in Canada, so, does it have an option for a metric system?
Because miles and gallons really confuse me... Liters and meters are the way to go :)
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Marcus said 8:00PM on 4-13-2009
I love this app. However, will it take advantage of the 3.0 push API's? I would find great use in service reminders being pushed using the app 'badge', so that I would not have to open up the app to see that my oil needs changing.
Any plans on this?
Thanks
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Chris said 8:18PM on 4-13-2009
Really like Gas Cubby and the new stats will really help determine which type of fuel I really get the most money out of. I already know it won't be 90-10 Ethanol, I won't put that stuff in my car if it was free. Well, maybe free. But more importantly between different octanes and different brands. Is that "Nitrogen" Shell fuel really that good? Gas Cubby would help me find out.
I do admit that it does take many clicks to enter info. But the really killer feature will be in iPhone 3.0 when apps can interface with the car OBD II connection. Like Rev by Devtoaster that uses a super expensive OBD to Wi-Fi device to read all the data from your car's computer.
Imagine a cheaper OBD to Dock connector that apps like Gas and Trip Cubby could use to Auto Log your mileage. This my friends is why iPhone 3.0 will still own for another 2 years. Remember Mr. Jobs said it was 5 years ahead of the competition.
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