Not everything should be an iPhone app, and Auto Fuel Economics is case in point. It is more like a word problem from freshman-year algebra class than anything than anything that should be sold in the iTunes App Store.
At least the premise is simple. Auto Fuel Economics helps compare the purchase prices and estimated fuel costs of two cars over a period of time. So what? What kind of serious car buyer only looks at two cars? If I’m shopping the top five cars in a certain class – hardly a stretch for a person concerned about gas mileage – I want to get all of my information in one place. To use this app, I practically have to write a dissertation in finite mathematics. Instead of making one computation, I have to make 10. That’s unacceptable.
Also unacceptable is Auto Fuel Economic’s interface. The graphic design is atrocious, and the data-entry screen is a joke. Auto Fuel Economics uses the default iPhone keyboard, which means I have to sort through 10 digits and 15 useless punctuation marks to do what I want to do – and that’s just on one screen. All told, the app has dozens more buttons than it needs. How’s that for economy?
Even if I could look beyond the sloppy design, I still can’t get over how little I’d actually use this app. Yes, I’m concerned about saving money, but I know for certain that I can save 99 cents toward my total car purchase price by skipping this useless app.
