The App Genie iPhone app (99 cents) sure seems like a good idea. One-tap access to a slew of useful iPhone apps, clearing room from your homescreen.
And while it makes sense for some of those apps that I don’t use very often, but like to have handy and available (like a level, a unit converter, a tip calculator, a translator), it doesn’t for iPhone apps I do use on a daily basis (weather, checklist, a clock, though the one in App Genie talks). Why would I want to tap twice to access a very basic iPhone app to do something I can do easily (and better) with one tap?
What makes even less sense is a host of iPhone apps that require an iPhone 3GS. Well, it makes no sense for me, since I have just a run-of-the-mill 3G. App Genie includes a compass, a bar code reader that requires auto-focus (only available on the 3GS), and something called “Detector” — none of which can be used on my iPhone.
Mildly entertaining are the included “Country Facts” and “Amazing Facts,” though the facts aren’t that amazing, and many of them are full of grammatical errors.
Other iPhone apps in App Genie are “Where Am I?,” which pinpoints your location in a satellite view, device stats and battery level, a magnifier, a currency converter, and a voice reader, which lets you type in some words and hear them read back to you in a computer-generated, inflection-less voice.
There are also some camera iPhone apps that let you shake your phone, tap the screen, or clap to take a photo.
