Quote Portal for iPhone is The Epitome of Simplicity and Brilliance
By: Hillel Fuld
There is something to be said for a mobile app that can have you up and running within seconds. There are so many developers that spend all their time developing a new technology for their app, that the actual interface of the application all but gets forgotten. What they don’t realize is that they could have the most ground breaking invention in the world, but if people cannot figure out how to use the app, it is good for nothing.
Quote Portal has one of the nicest interfaces I have ever seen on an iPhone app, and I have seen a lot of iPhone apps. The concept is completely basic, yet the UI is so good, it transforms this app into a keeper. So what does the app do? Quote Portal, as the name suggests, is a portal for quotes. It basically provides the best quotes in various categories. The app includes 15 different categories including Wisdom, Love, Art, Business, Humor, and many more. You can also view all the quotes by their authors, which is a useful addition.
Quote Portal also includes the ability to mark quotes as favorites for those annoying yet common instances that you just cannot remember the quote. Other useful features in the app include the ability to view daily quotes, easily browse between the categories or just random quotes, and then there is the interface…
As you are probably thinking, Quote Portal provides such a simple functionality, if I can even call it that. It is just a list of good quotes. Yet the developer did such a good job with the design of the app, it really gives the feeling of being so much more. The experience provided by Quote Portal is what separates it from just a plain old list of quotes. The home screen is what appears to be an entrance to a castle with the icons of the different categories spread out over the wooden door.
Once you select a category, the first quote is displayed with four icons along the bottom. The first icon is a heart, which when pressed favorites the current quote. Next are the two arrows to proceed to the next quote or the previous one. Lastly, you can copy or email the quote by pressing on the final icon. In addition to the arrows for scrolling, you can of course use your fingers with the famous iPhone scrolling to advance as well.
On the top of the screen, you have a scrolling toolbar with all the categories including the categories home screen, the favorites screen, and the daily quotes. That is the entire app, and as I mentioned, the interface was so good, it impressed me within seconds of first opening the app. Why would you want this app? I can think of a few reasons, but if the occasional motivational quote isn’t enough, how about some good content for Twitter?
Our Rating: 4/5
Developer: Jedrzej Jakubowski
