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'sodes ($2.99) by Nice Boy LLC is a simple and clean podcast app for those who listen to the occasional podcast. With 'sodes, it's more along the lines of Castro 2 instead of other, more fully-featured apps like Overcast. If you only need to listen to a podcast every now and then, rather than every day, then 'sodes could be the app for you.

I love listening to podcasts, but I'll admit it — I've fallen way behind in my podcast subscriptions, and I haven't been able to catch up for the longest time. I must have a subscribed list of around 30 podcasts, and as much as I enjoy listening to them, I'm just overwhelmed with having to catch up so I just stopped listening to most of them. But when I was an avid podcast listener, my app of choice was Overcast specifically for the Smart Speed feature. But with my current non-existent podcast listening habit, I'm not sure Overcast is for me anymore. Fortunately, 'sodes just came out and it could be just what I need.

$4.99

Castro 2

Supertop Software

Free

Overcast

Overcast Radio, LLC

The design of 'sodes is incredibly minimalistic, and it almost feels like an app that Apple designed themselves due to the aesthetics. On the first launch, you'll be greeted with a simple message that explains how to navigate the app, which is pretty straightforward since there's basically only two screens: Home and Search. The Home screen has a large 'sodes header in the top left, and then you'll have your Favorites, In Progress, and Unplayed Episodes. The Search screen is full of podcast artwork tiles from top podcasts, and there's a search bar in case you don't see what you're looking for.

The default theme in 'sodes is Light, which features a white background and black text. But if you don't care for that, there are additional themes: Dark and Campfire. Dark is more of a steel blue background with light gray text, and Campfire features a burgundy-to-black gradient transition background with blood orange text. No matter which theme you end up sticking with, 'sodes retains the minimalist design and looks great doing so.

Since 'sodes is designed for the occasional podcast listener, don't expect a way to import your previous subscriptions in here. Instead, you'll need to make use of the Search screen in order to find new or current favorites. Just tap on a podcast tile to view details about the show, and view their episode list. You can also add a podcast to your Favorites for quick access. If the show you want isn't featured on the Search view, you can search by name or pasting in a URL.

Once you've picked out a few shows as favorites, you can see them all in the Home screen, as well as Unplayed Episodes. From the Home view, or even from a show's details page, you can tap on an episode and start listening, no subscribing required.

With 'sodes, there are no downloads for episodes. Instead, the app relies 100 percent on streaming the audio, which may raise concerns for those with limited cellular data plans. However, 'sodes intelligently manages data consumption by downloading the audio data in portions. This information is temporarily on the device to help restrict network data usage, but there's no offline playback since a data connection is always required.

During playback, 'sodes has some nice large buttons for play/pause, and rewinding or fast forwarding 15 seconds. You can also tap on the "…" button to adjust the playback speed, select audio output, stop playing, share the episode with others, or go directly to the episode website. The playback bar also displays the elapsed time in a small square that resembles an Apple Watch face, which I thought was a nice detail.

Options for 'sodes is in the iOS Settings, but the gear icon in 'sodes takes you directly to it. You can change the forward and backward intervals, switch themes, and toggle "Keep Screen Unlocked" when the device is connected to power and you're playing an episode.

Listen to podcast episodes when you want to, not when they arrive.

The Good

For the occasional podcast listener, 'sodes is great. The app has a minimal aesthetic design that's simple and straightforward with no fuss. It's easy enough to find the shows you want, or even discover new ones with the featured artwork tiles. Not having to subscribe to get access to episodes is also nice, so this app is perfect when you just want to listen to that one episode of a podcast your friend told you about.

There's also a bit of leeway with the colors, since you have three themes to choose from, and they all look good in their own ways. The large tappable buttons for playback are nice to have as well, especially when driving.

The Bad

If you want a feature-packed podcast app, 'sodes is not the app you're looking for. This app is designed for those who only listen to podcasts every once in a while, and it makes it easier for them to get what they want. If you prefer an app that lets you subscribe, download episodes automatically, create playlists, and more, then you should give Overcast a try.

The only other negative thing about 'sodes is the fact that it needs a data connection to play episodes. For those with unlimited data, this isn't an issue, but not everyone has that luxury. It's nice that 'sodes has smart streaming, but some would still prefer to download an episode before playing it to conserve limited data.

The verdict

So far, I like 'sodes for what it is: a simple podcast app for the casual listener. I doubt that I'll ever be able to manage my huge subscription list in Overcast anymore, so 'sodes is a nice alternative when I just want to find a single episode of something and listen to it when I have the chance to. Plus, as a fan of minimalism, the design is great. I think if there was the option to download episodes for playback, then this would be perfect for the casual listener who doesn't have unlimited data. But if you want a power-user experience, then you should look elsewhere.

You can find 'sodes on the iPhone App Store for $2.99.

8.9

OVERALL

Lasting appeal 9

iPhone Integration 9.5

User Interface 9

Is engaging 9

Does it well 8

FREE

’sodes

Nice Boy LLC

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Moleskine Actions (Free) by Moleskine is the complement app to Moleskine Timepage, a pretty decent digital planner app that we're fans of here at AppAdvice. If you're looking for a to-do app that's similar to something like Things 3, but like the aesthetic of Moleskine apps, then Actions could be for you. But it's not without some flaws of its own.

I used to consider myself a productivity nut, always trying out the latest to-do list app on the App Store, or finding other methods to become more productive. But that's kind of stopped, at least in the to-do list department. I've settled with Things 3 since it came out, because I love the simple design and feature set. And while my go-to calendar app is still Fantastical, Timepage was a close second for me since I'm a big Moleskine fan — I used to write in their paper journals. So naturally, when I saw Moleskine Actions on the App Store this week, I was intrigued and had to give it a shot. Sadly, I'm disappointed.

Free

Timepage

Moleskine S.r.l.

$9.99

Things 3

Cultured Code GmbH & Co. KG

$4.99

Fantastical 2 for iPhone

Flexibits Inc.

As a fan of Timepage, I like Actions' aesthetic, because it falls under the same design. It's a simple, clean design that focuses on a clutter-free lifestyle. You simply have your Schedule and Logbook of completed actions. Your lists are all organized how you want them, and they can be color-coded for easy reference. The Action Cards are solid colored rectangles with rounded corners that look great, and Actions showcases a basic sans serif typeface that wraps up the modern look. There's the default Light theme, as well as Dark, and you can have it switch automatically depending on time. There are smooth animations as you transition from one view to another, and even creating action cards and moving them around is fluid. Again, Moleskine knows how to make a product look classy and contemporary.

If you use Timepage, then you'll be glad to know that Actions integrates pretty seamlessly with Timepage. You can quickly throw an Action from Actions into Timepage, and vice versa. Both Timepage and Actions also use Moleskine's subscription-based model though, which starts at $1.99 a month or $11.99 yearly ($1 a month). When you sign up for an account, it automatically starts a 7-day trial. If you choose to not continue, both Timepage and Actions will be read-only mode. This is rather unfortunate, but at least the trial gives you a taste of what everything's like so you can make your decision.

When you first launch Actions, there's a brief tutorial that shows you the basics. It's pretty heavily gesture-based, though you get used to things after a few moments because it's fairly intuitive.

After the tutorial, you'll see your Schedule. This pulls data from your iOS calendar to display current and upcoming appointments and events on your timeline in a list style. If you tap on the checkmark at the bottom, or swipe from the screen edge, you'll see the Logbook, which shows completed tasks.

But how do you add tasks? First, you'll want to create some Lists, which you can access by tapping on the card icon in the bottom right corner. Then click the plus button to make a new list, which requires a name and then you get a lively transition to color bubbles, where you pick the list color (can be changed at any time). Once you make your choices, the list is saved and you can start adding actions directly to it.

You can add actions directly in a list or from the Schedule view. If you choose the latter, you'll need to pick the list to add it to when you create it. All Action cards can also have notes added to them, if needed.

Actions understands natural language input, though it's not as advanced as Fantastical's engine. This means you're able to type in something like "Post status report every second Friday" and Actions automatically takes care of the scheduling, reminders, and notifications. Or you can do something simple, like "Deposit paycheck every other week" or "Buy chicken by Friday" and Actions handles it.

However, I'm annoyed at the fact that Actions' natural language input does not understand everything, unlike Fantastical and other apps. It doesn't understand when I put things like "on 2/28" or "at the end of every month," and then just defaults to today for these actions. For something that claims to understand natural language, I'm seeing more fails than successes.

Another thing I've noticed is a weird text glitch. If I type something and make a typo, I want to just tap on the delete key and go back to fix my error. A few times I've done this, the last letter of the word I'm editing remains at the end, even though I'm fairly certain I placed the cursor after it. It's a small glitch, but it's driving me bonkers.

To complete an action, just swipe right-to-left. A swipe in the opposite direction lets you schedule it. If an item is in the logbook, you can swipe right-to-left to mark it as incomplete, or left-to-right to delete it for good.

Action cards can also be moved around the schedule just through drag-and-drop. There's also nice haptic feedback as you shuffle things around, which I like.

For those who like to use Siri for voice activated commands, Actions has support for that. However, I tried it out and it doesn't seem to work too well. One of the things you can say is "Create a list called whatever in Actions." When I tried this, first Siri created it in Reminders because I didn't accentuate the 's' in Actions hard enough. Then it made the list but kept the "in" at the end of the list name. I've never gotten along with Siri for voice commands, as it never seems to understand the words I'm saying, so I don't see the Siri integration in Actions very useful for me anyway.

Moleskine Actions is a new to-do app that complements Timepage.

The Good

Actions has a gorgeous design that is classy and modern. Like Timepage, it looks great, and the selection of colors means you can customize it to your liking and make it pop. The navigation is pretty decent and intuitive enough for most people. You can create as many lists as needed, and the integration with Timepage is nice. And while it's not perfect, the natural language input is useful for certain things.

The Bad

Unfortunately, there's more I dislike about Actions than like. First, I'm not a big fan of the subscription model for both Moleskine apps. Honestly, I'm tired of everything turning into another monthly or annual subscription payment, because there are plenty of other options that are viable without having to pay to use it every month (like Things 3 and Fantastical for me).

I found the navigation system to be a bit clunky at times. I think being able to swipe anywhere, not just from the edges of the screen, to navigate between Logbook and Schedule should be an option. I mean, as long as you're not swiping an Action card, there shouldn't be an issue.

The natural language input needs a lot of work to be up to par with other apps like Fantastical. It should recognize things like "on 3/30" or "at the end of every month," as I feel this is naturally how people speak. It doesn't translate into Actions, and I found it surprising.

Other small things, like the text glitch and Siri commands, also need work. With all of the current problems the app has, I can't justify paying a subscription fee to use it every month. At least I was able to use the trial to discover that it isn't for me.

The verdict

As a fan of Timepage before, I was hoping to like Actions. But a lot has changed since I last used Timepage, apparently, and I can safely say that I'm not a fan. While Actions looks great and has good integration with Timepage, I agree with others in the fact that this should have been added into Timepage itself, and not be a standalone app. After all, Fantastical is able to handle both scheduling and reminders, why not Timepage?

For now, I will stick with my current system. But hey, if you want to give Actions and Timepage a shot, at least the 7-day trial lets you get a taste before committing.

Moleskine Actions is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for free. There is an in-app purchase for a Moleskine account that starts at $1.99 a month.

7.1

OVERALL

User Interface 8

iPhone Integration 7

Is engaging 7.5

Lasting appeal 6.5

Does it well 6.5

FREE

Actions by Moleskine Studio

Moleskine Srl

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews