I have to admit that I’m pretty lucky with my job and the chance I get to travel. But there are times when it can be a drag. One of those drags is having to carry around all the info about the trip (flight, rental car, hotel, etc.). I’ve just gotten to the point where I type of everything on one sheet and then just keep it with me. Sure it’s pretty 20th century of me, but it seems to work.
But with the iPhone there’s supposed to be “an app for that” and the folks at SplashData have done their best to make that happen. Their app is designed to give an all-in-one device to take care of your travel records. In fact, it’s called “Splash Travel – All-In-One Trip Organizer”. Let’s see if the high hopes it sets up with the name is warranted.
First off, the app as a really good Unser Interface. The first screen shows you the time where you are, and any other location you want.
Basically this is the World Clock App and it’s a good place to start with the app. On this screen you’ll also see the any trips you’ve already got set and the ability to add more.
You’ll also see some nice places to check out currency rates, clothing sizes and other info you can use in foreign countries. And, they’ve even thrown in a tip calculator for those who can’t figure that out on their own.
Now once you set up a new trip you can go in and put in all the information that I listed a few paragraphs ago. Now everything is saved and you can pull up the information with just a couple of taps on the screen.
It would seem that you now have everything you need. But, it only seems that way.
It almost seems that this app was designed by people who never travel. For instance, you can put in your flight number, but there’s no place to put in the departure and arrival times.
That seems like a pretty obvious need if you’re traveling. I’ve rarely needed to know the flight number of a plane, but when I have a lot of flights on a trip I really want to know when it takes off and lands.
Okay, that’s one that they should have seen, but there are others. I use rental cars on most trips so I’ll be doing my own driving. Since I already have the iPhone I don’t get the GPS for the car, I just tap in the hotel address and off I go.
There’s no place to type in the address fully on the app. Sure you can put in the “location” spot, but the opening for the “location” only shows a few letters so you’d never be able to read the whole address. This is another one that should have been a no-brainer.
And while they were making an “All-In-One” app, it would have been nice to link to a maps app so that all I had to do was tap airport and then my hotel and a map would come up. That would have been helpful.
The app does have a spot for “events” but you really can’t put much information in that slot either. And there isn’t a place for notes at all so you have to go to your normal notes app to take care of that.
There are some really nice things about this app and the idea behind everything is perfect, but the execution really missed the mark.
For now I’ll just keep carrying everything around on my good old piece of paper.
The Good
Nice To Have (Most) Info In One Location
UI is Very Easy To Use
The Bad
Can’t Add Notes
Needs More Room To Put Addresses &- Other Info
Should Link With Maps App
