A few weeks ago, we took a look at the Tapbots family – highlighting the simplicity and design of their applications. Well, the folks at TapBots have been hard at work and recently released the newest member of their family.
Introducing Calcbot, a brilliantly simple and fun calculator “robot” that takes the mindless task of calculation and makes it fun and even easier to do. Let’s take a look at how Calcbot works after the break.
Features & Functionality
Available as a universal application for both iPhone and iPad, Calcbot takes the guesswork out of calculation, providing users with an intelligent display that displays not only the numbers you press but the expressions as well.
You’ll never lose your place or find yourself making errors because you weren’t sure how far in a calculation you were. As you work, Calcbot will display all the numbers you’ve pressed and live update your total as you go.
Calcbot Interface
Advanced Expressions
Taking it a step further, Calcbot features a ton of advanced mathematical expressions. Instead of clouding your view with an intimidatingly advanced scientific display, formulas and functions that are not for every-day use can be found by swiping to the right.
The History Tape
One of the most notable features of Calcbot is the history “tape” that not only saves each of your calculations but the expressions you used to get there. Think of it like a receipt, constantly logging what you’ve typed and making it available for later use. Choose to use or save either the expression itself or just the result of it without a second thought.
History Tape
Sharing Information
In addition to just viewing your expressions and calculations, you can choose to send that information via email or reusing it at a later time. Say you’re keeping track of all your daily expenses. With Calcbot, you can call up your latest total easily and add to it as you need. Once you’re done, it’s simple to send that information to yourself or others via email.
Control your experience even further with the ability to use sound effects of turn them off if you wish. Since most people use calculators for financial transactions, Tapbots also offers the option to round currency too.
Calcbot on the iPad
Using Calcbot on your iPad offers you the same great features but a totally new experience. With the added screen real estate of the larger iPad, calculate and view your history at the same time by turning the device to landscape.
In portrait mode, the app utilizes the entire screen as a beautiful, high-quality calculator. Calcbot feels right at home on the iPad and without a calculator application provided by Apple, this app fits right in.
On Your iPad
The Motivation Behind Calcbot
Like every other Tapbot app, the team takes a simple concept that has been over-complicated and brings it back to the basics. Without compromising features and detail, the developer is able to make the application very simple and fun to use.
The motivation for the developers to create this app was very simple in nature and explained on their blog. In their eyes, there are two main problems with calculators:
- There is no easy way to see the calculator’s expression, so even if you are slightly distracted, you can forget where you were and have to start all over.
- Many people have a hard time remembering numbers and have no idea how to use a conventional calculator’s memory buttons.
After using the app for only a few minutes, it is safe to say that Tapbots has elegantly addressed both problems. From the blog, the developer actually had originally only developed the app for the iPad. After partnering with tap tap tap for marketing purposes, Calcbot was made universal.
Once you start using it, you’ll quickly see that the way it handles expressions and calculations will make you drop Apple’s default app. With support for multitasking and iPhone 4’s Retina Display, Calcbot looks awesome on whatever device you’re using.
In Summary
In my use, I found Calcbot excitingly simple to use and just plain fun. I’m not that great with math, so even using it with basic expressions and day-to-day calculations was welcomed. There is no learning curve to Calcbot.
With a elegant interface, you’ll know exactly how to use the app without reading any instructions. You’ll quickly come to rely on features such as the history tape and expression view.
The app is currently available for $1.99 on the App Store. Let us know in the comments what you think about it!