app picks for April 17, 2011

Eat

A restaurant guide available in two flavours: Sydney and Melbourne.
Everyone needs to eat, right? Sometimes, though, you just don’t know where to go to do so. Walking through a large city with a hole in your belly can often lead to a meal disaster as you jump on the first kebab you come across.

Thankfully, in the mobile age, there are digital sages available to you. Eat is one such sage. Available in Sydney and Melbourne flavours, these apps are based on the Deck of Secrets food guides, which are decks of cards that list the very best places to dine in a given city.

The app version is, of course, handier than the original card format. You can see what restaurants are nearby, read a review, and make a reservation at the one that takes your fancy. The app will then guide you on your way, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost.

The lack of a “browse by suburb” view or refined categories are a disappointment, but the information is great, and you can be sure that you’ll never stumble across a bad meal again.

Also available from Deck of Secrets are Sydney and Melbourne Drink apps, which tell you all the best places to – you guessed it – drink.

$4.99 > Deck of Secrets > deckofsecrets.com/apps/

Graphic.ly

Graphic.ly is a social network meets comic book store, and they now have a Windows Phone 7 app available.

Comics range from free to US$1.99, and the most compelling feature – besides the massive back catalogue, hardware accelerated deep zooming, or thumbnail navigation – is the ability to leave public comments about specific panels.

Graphic.ly compares itself to the couch in the middle of the comic book store – only this couch has hundreds of thousands of comic book fans on it.

Free > Graphic.ly > graphic.ly

Poynt

Poynt – which combines location awareness with local directory listings – started rolling out Australian data last October.

While Google Maps offers similar functionality, Poynt differentiates itself with more in-depth features, like the ability to watch movie trailers and read reviews before booking movie tickets, and local weather forecasts.

You can search nearby for restaurants, hotels, and other businesses, and call them directly from within the app, or get directions to their doorstep.

Poynt is also available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS.

Free > Poynt > poynt.com/wp7.html

Voxofon Call Abroad

With Skype making no plans to release a Windows Phone 7 app, you may think that you will never talk to your Skype buddies again.

Thankfully, Voxofon has heard your cries, and has brought Skype – as well as GTalk and other SIP-providers – to Windows Phone 7.

Add in the ability to make cheap international calls (after buying some Voxofon credit), and you have a handy app, indeed. The app even shows you the price of the call before you dial. Nice.