(Credit:
CNET)
Despite being a fan of Zagat's restaurant surveys, I've never been overly impressed with the mobile applications for Windows Mobile Smartphone and PocketPC, BlackBerry, and Palm.
Regrettably, Zagat To Go '09 for the iPhone and iPod Touch ($9.99 per year) isn't markedly different.
The components to a great mobile app are all there--venerable content, click-to-call, a Web site link, OpenTable reservations for some restaurants, and search and sorting filters--but the whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts.
Stability is a major concern, the app cries for an in-app browser, and Zagat To Go calibrates your location twice every time you open it, a repetition that quickly wears thin. Providing advanced search options to find, for instance, sushi restaurants nearby for under $30 would make the app immediately more winning.
iTunes App Store reviewers have also thoroughly picked a bone with the app over a "cheesy" link to other apps created by Zagat's mobile publishing partner, Handmark, and "frustrating," "misleading" information about the cities and countries covered. It's true that Zagat Survey is strongest in metropolitan US cities, with passable international coverage in the UK, Italy, and France, and some world cities, like Tokyo, Toronto, London, and Rome. Handmark should more explicitly list those cities to minimize the backlash.
It's also true that Zagat To Go will best serve the foodies who want to "cut through the garbage" found on Yelp's and Urbanspoon's iPhone apps and be funneled to finer dining. Big-city diners dedicated to Zagat's yearly survey have in this iPhone app a slightly more economical and much more convenient and interactive option than toting the book with them on travels near and far, or viewing the cramped mobile Web site from the Safari browser.
Update: 12/2/08 at 3:40 PM. Handmark commented in an e-mail that a new release being submitted to iPhone's App Store for approval today will request location access upon launching the app for the first time. A button on the main search screen will let you manually update your new location.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
In this day and age when every other person is a self-described foodie, finding the best mobile application to point you to a taste bud-bending experience requires as much discernment as finding the authentic voice from among throngs of folks who think they know good eats.
I'd be lying if I didn't claim snobby epicurean tendencies, myself.
This headstrong belief in one's own taste credentials is exactly what fuels the need for informative and well-designed food-finding applications. Too simple and a foodie will shun it. Too esoteric and it could alienate a growing segment of people who really care about the art and science of meal-making.
I've recently studied several restaurant-recommending applications for iPhone and other mobile platforms, including Yelp and Urbanspoon for iPhone and Zagat To Go for Windows Mobile, Palm, and BlackBerry, and wondered how relative newcomers Munch ($0.99) and LocalEats ($0.99) compare to these more established services.
Munch for iPhone turns out accurate results, but what's with the ratings?
(Credit: CNET Networks)There are, of course, things to laud and criticize with each app. Munch's interface has a great method for quick-launching searches for pizza, Mexican, and so on from icons in the screen navigation. You can select other cuisines from a scrolling list. Munch returns wonderfully accurate search results, but is devoid of context. There are no reviews, no Web site listings, and every restaurant we looked at was rated with five empty stars. That's doable if you want a listings app, but for anyone trying to make intelligent choices, it just won't work.
LocalEats fares much better. The app brings you the best 100 (or more) restaurants in 50 U.S. cities as determined by a team of foodie professionals, authors of the online dining guide Where the locals eat. The benefit is that unlike Urbanspoon, no national chain even thinks of making an appearance. You can search each city's highest-rated establishments by alphabetical order, cuisine type, or the best of each category. For larger cities you can also search by neighborhood.
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Now in its fifth version, Zagat To Go, compatible with the PDA and platform in-crowd, gives locomotive users access to Zagat's sprawling database of cleverly amalgamated dining reviews and ratings for the best spots in town for food, service, and decor.
The mobile version of the gastro-household brand makes good use of cell phone technology to deliver maps and directions, though Zagat strangely passes up some low-hanging functionality that forces users to do extra legwork as a result. Watch the First Look video below or read the hands-on review for more detail.
Try Zagat To Go for free:
Zagat To Go for BlackBerry
Zagat To Go for Palm |
Zagat To Go for Palm (Mac installer)
Zagat To Go for Windows Mobile 5
Zagat To Go for Windows Mobile 5 smartphones
Zagat To Go for Pocket PC
Zagat To Go for BlackBerry
For 29 delicious years, the Zagat Survey (pronounced zuh-GAT) has been compiling restaurant ratings from user reviews all over the globe to help foodies and regular people find the perfect spot for a first date, romantic meal, or celebration. For considerably fewer years, it has made its renowned services available for mobile phones.
I reviewed the trial version of Zagat To Go (see all downloads) on a BlackBerry Curve (download) and Windows Mobile Palm Treo (download).
Zagat To Go for BlackBerry may have been custom-built for BlackBerry, but features a surprisingly basic home menu that's still stuck in the dinosaur days of Web 1.0 and doesn't feel suited to the BlackBerry's navigational pearl. If you can get past that, you'll find quick access to Zagat's flagship product of cleverly cobbled user reviews, plus pop-up ratings while in list view for food, decor, service, and average meal cost.
Zagat To Go for Windows Mobile streamlines with a tabbed interface, but lacks hyperlinks.
You would expect extras for a mobile edition, and Zagat To Go offers some. BlackBerry users can click to call an establishment, and pinpoint the location on a map. They can also get directions to and from the restaurant, e-mail the location, and add it as a calendar item or contact. However, the app doesn't take advantage of SMS or link to the restaurant's Web site.
The Windows Mobile version of Zagat To Go looks like a distant cousin with its ratings tiles, notes section, and tabbed windows. Like the BlackBerry version, you can plot your selection on the map, get directions, and add it to your contacts list or calendar. However, click-to-call is completely absent, and there's no Web site listed, let alone hyperlinked.
In both products, Zagat is passing up two opportunities. The first is mobile Web usability in the form of hyperlinks; the second, a chance to revamp its pricing structure and offer a free-to-use product that scoops revenue from ads and coupons rather than from a subscription fee. Zagat To Go would be an appropriate outlet for targeted advertising, and a way to reward existing subscribers to Zagat.com with an upgrade to an ad-free version of the app.
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