AppReviewToday- AppReviews

After years of waiting, Microsoft's Office for iPad is here. In celebration, I'd like to take a deeper look at the three new additions to the App Store: Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and I've decided to start with what will probably be the most popular of them all. Now that Microsoft Word for iPad (Free, requiring Office 365 subscription) by Microsoft Corporation is actually here, questions are rising everywhere. How does it compare to Apple's Pages? Can it really make an impact in the mobile office space after it's arrived this late to the game? And, most importantly, is it worth $99 a year?

In my day-to-day experiences of making simple documents, I've run into and had to find ways around the sea of limitations that Pages comes with. Want to change the page orientation? Can't do that. Want to skip lines when creating a numbered list? Can't do that. Want to change the header and footer on each page? Can't do that. And those are just the simple things, all of which Microsoft Word for iPad can do just as well as it does on the desktop.

Other winning features over Apple's document editor include more advanced formatting options when it comes to bullets and numbering, a boss of a ruler, a plethora of adjustable parameters for tables and shapes, and a whole tab dedicated to adjusting “Layout” options that is full of features Pages is missing. Finally, even those well-known fonts that are exclusive to Word have been ported over. I could spend an eternity preaching about how Word on the iPad has many more robust editing options than Pages does, but I think you get the idea.

Beyond the app's strengths, however, is one obvious drawback. This doesn't involve document creation and editing, but rather, it has to do with sharing and exporting. Users can import documents into Word from other apps using iOS' native share sheets, so clearly Microsoft knows the functionality exists. However, when getting a document out of the app, the only options available are through a link to the OneDrive file or via email.

Despite how awful sharing documents from Microsoft Word for iPad is, the app's abilities are far beyond that of Pages or any other mobile office app, so I'm more than willing to deal with the issues. Also, while $99 a year sounds crazy for an Office 365 subscription, you're getting a lot more than you think. In the end, you get what you pay for, and the pricing of Apple's iWork in contrast to Office on iOS is a prime example of that. Microsoft has been extremely diligent in including almost every feature the desktop version has, and it becomes obvious as you use the app. If you're remotely serious about creating and editing documents on your iPad, you'll go for Word, which is available in the App Store for free.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled that I won't be turning my head sideways to edit a document's settings ever again. All of my Pages users will know what I'm talking about.

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CARROT Fit – Talking Weight Tracker ($1.99) by Grailr LLC is the third installment of the CARROT series of apps. If you need a little more motivation behind losing weight, how about a robot who will do this by judging you every step of the way?

I’ve been a longtime fan of CARROT since her other two apps, CARROT To-Do and CARROT Alarm. So when I heard that there was going to be a third CARROT app, this time dealing with fitness and health, I was pretty excited.

CARROT Fit features a beautiful and simplistic interface that you will instantly recognize if you’ve used her other apps. You’ll find hilarious chubby avatars to choose from to represent yourself, amusing animations of CARROT’s punishments when you gain weight instead of lose it, easy-to-read text, and of course, CARROT’s sinister, GLaDOS-like voice as she makes commentary on your progress. If you do well, she will reward you with a bit of confetti and such, you know, to make you feel special.

When you launch CARROT Fit for the first time, you’ll be asked to input your base weight, and then choose an avatar. You will have the basic chubby man or woman, but there are additional, amusing options like Gentleman and Brony.

Once this is set up, CARROT will ask that you return once a day to record your weight and earn points, depending on whether your gaining or losing. Each day, when you launch CARROT Fit, just tap on the “Record Weight” button to input your current weight. You will earn points for your weigh-ins, but only once a day, so you can’t just cheat the system. If you lost weight, CARROT will cheer, and perhaps even give you some workout tips. However, if you gained weight, you’ll make CARROT angry, and she will punish your avatar and make you cry.

As you use CARROT Fit more over time, you’ll want to check The Log for your progress. You’ll be able to get a graph of how your weight has been for the past month, three months, or even the entire year. You will also see your current weight and how much you’ve gained or lost, and you can also set your weight goal, which will then show you how many pounds you have remaining to lose. And if you input your height, CARROT Fit will also be able to give you a BMI reading.

Just like with the other CARROT apps, the more you use CARROT Fit, eventually you will “level up” and earn rewards, like the workout tips, cat facts, and hey, you could even watch your friend eat a bag of potato chips. I haven’t made enough progress in my weight loss goal to get these fabulous rewards, but I’m sure that it will be worth it.

I’m liking CARROT Fit so far, as it reminds me in some ways of Weightbot, but with the twisted personality of CARROT. I was kind of hoping that CARROT Fit meant that she would have some sort of rigorous exercising regime in store for you, and if you slacked off, she would put you to shame through her sharp words. However, it’s just another weight tracker, but maybe that can be another CARROT app in the future. Still, CARROT Fit is a nice way to get some motivation towards your weight loss goals, though I’m not so sure she should be cheering if you input an unhealthy weight like 25 lbs. or something. But that’s part of CARROT’s charm, I suppose.

If you’re looking for a slick weight tracker app with a dash of motivation, then I recommend giving CARROT Fit a try. You can get it in the App Store for your iPhone for $1.99.

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