Good day, fellow readers. Today there’s another issue about my
installed Apps. This day’s issue deals with Apps that may help
you when you’re on vacation. Be it a tube map or hust an airport
schedule view. They all ease your life when you’re out travelling.

You may also want to read the other posts I’ve made, so here’s an overview of what has been blogged so far in this series:

Table of Content:

Let’s review some Apps…(1)
Let’s review some Apps…(2)
Let’s review some Apps…(3)
Let’s review some Apps…(4)
Let’s review some Apps…(5)
Let’s review some Apps…(6)

So let’s begin with London:

Tube Deluxe

This app is just necessary when you’re on tour in London and want to avoid surprises in the london tube system. All necessary information is displayed such as irregularities on the network or other disturbances such as cunstruction sites or closed stations (at late night or weekends). You can also have your route planned with this App. a complementary map shows the whole tube system on a zoomable map so you can find yourself a way through the tube network if you plan to explore London.

Pros:
+ Zoomable Tube map
+ Route planning
+ Actual network status
+ Include/Exclude filter options
+ Localized language pack
+ Plan from where you stand (usng GPS localization)

Cons:
– Network Map outdated (01.2010) – actual: 12.2011

Overall-Rating: ★★★★☆ – $0.99

MVG FahrInfo

This app is just necessary when you’re on tour in Munich and want to avoid surprises in the Munich transport system. All necessary information is displayed such as irregularities on the network or other disturbances such as cunstruction sites. You can also have your route planned with this App. A complementary map shows the whole network system on a zoomable map so you can find yourself a way through the transport network if you plan to explore Munich.

Pros:
+ Zoomable network maps
+ Update function for the maps (GREAT!)
+ Route planning
+ Actual network status
+ Include/Exclude filter options
+ Plan from where you stand (usng GPS localization)
+ Includes the WHOLE network transportation from MVG!
+ No Ads!

Cons:
None found so far. Haven’t checked if this uses language localization! (DE/EN)

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★+★ – Free

The extra star goes for the “Free” status and for being Ad-free!

Navi S-Bahn München

This app adds a bit more detailed information about the suburb trains of the munich transportation service within the MVG network. Not straight necessary but handy if you want to spy on the suburb trains where they actually are (especially when they’re delayed)

Pros:
+ Zoomable network maps
+ Route planning
+ Actual network status
+ Include/Exclude filter options
+ Plan from where you stand (usng GPS localization)
+ No Ads!
+ Live-Update of the suburb trains’ positions!

Cons:
– Only for Munich suburb trains.

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Free

MEZI (Bernmobil FahrInfo)

This App covers the Bernese network services in Switzerland! Similar to the MVG FarplanInfo it allows you to receive an up-to-date status of all city lines (busses and tramways) and plan your route. Unfortunately this does not come with an overview map of the Bernmobil network.

Pros:
+ Route planning
+ Actual network status
+ Plan from where you stand (usng GPS localization)
+ No Ads!

Cons:
– No overview maps
– Only in german

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Free

New York Subway Map

You’re in New York and helpless with the giant subway map? Have your route planned with this intelligent App. It plans the routes for you and helps you find the nearest station to your position. Like most other transportation service Apps also this App comes with a complete overview map of the whole network system. You can fetch info about the lines’ service statuses and selecting the time zone may help the App to gather exact wait and travel times. A must-have when exploring New York using the subway.

Pros:
+ Zoomable network maps
+ Route planning
+ Actual network status
+ Plan from where you stand (usng GPS localization)
+ No Ads!
+ Speaks the most common languages

Cons:
– Missing Next train departure feature (anyways necessary at the timeslice rate trains go?)

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★+★ – Free

The extra stars go for the good usability and language localization and still being free!

Toronto Subway Map

This App helps you find your path from A to B within the Toronto subway network. Unfortunately the TTC has still no App made theirself to allow online network status query or the current schedule query. So this is basically a Map&Show to tell you how to go from A to B. If the App gets this overhaul and some others, the rating might be better. But at current it still is useful!

Pros:
+ Good GUI
+ Basic Network Overview Map
+ Speaks the most common languages

Cons:
– Missing Network status query
– Missing “Locate-Me” function
– Missing Schedule query

Overall-Rating: ★★★☆☆ – $0.99

SBB Mobile

Travelling within Switzerland using the SBB train service? Then this App is a MUST! You can plan your routes, buy tickets, follow train’s positions, get information about delays and problems and even plan your route to the neighbor countries (restrictions in In-App ticket purchases may apply!). Great App, great concept. The only downside is that you pay full penalty fee if the conductor cannot read your ticket. Also check that your iDevice is fully charged when using the electronic ticket. Device dead = no ticket! A hint for the SBB: Look at Wiener Linien – they say it’s no problem verifying your ticket even when your iDevice’s dead because tickets are tied to your person! Should be also possible here!

Pros:
+ Good GUI
+ In-App ticket purchase (get digital ticket instantly)
+ Speaks the most common languages

Cons:
– If digital ticket isn’t readable by any means then you pay full penalty fee!

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Free

DB Navigator

Travelling within Germany using the DB train service? Then this App is a MUST! You can plan your routes, buy tickets, follow train’s positions, get information about delays and problems and even plan your route to the neighbor countries (restrictions in In-App ticket purchases may apply!). Great App, great concept. The only downside is that you pay full penalty fee if the conductor cannot read your ticket. Also check that your iDevice is fully charged when using the electronic ticket. Device dead = no ticket! A hint for the SBB: Look at Wiener Linien – they say it’s no problem verifying your ticket even when your iDevice’s dead because tickets are tied to your person! Should be also possible here!

Pros:
+ Good GUI
+ In-App ticket purchase (get digital ticket instantly)
+ Speaks the most common languages

Cons:
– If digital ticket isn’t readable by any means then you pay full penalty fee!

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Free

(Yes, I know that the text is similar to the SBB Mobile App text but they’re based on the same system!)

Flughafen Zürich AG

This free App helps you find a specific flight from Zurich Airport or which flights are landing at specific times. It comes with push notification also. The other informations deal with the shopping mall inside the airport and help you localize the stores accurately (most accurate with GPS enabled!). This is the official App from the Flughafen Zürich AG, operator of the airport. There’s another App for $1.99 but it seems less informative as this one. So get this App and you’re all set in Zurich Airport!

Pros:
+ Overview map and localization guide
+ Detailed Arrival and Departure plans
+ No Ads
+ Free

Cons:
– No live map of your current location (maybe GPS isn’t that accurate inside the building.

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Free

Yelp!

Like Foursquare, this App helps you find all kinds of locations. Unlike foursquare, this is more a worldwide travel guide then a “Where have I been”-Tracker. That’s why I have categorized it under “Travel”. So if you’re on search for a place to stay or dine then this App may help you.

Pros:
+ Covers lots of places worldwide
+ Map pinpointing
+ Uses GPS for localization
+ user comments available

Cons:
– Keeps crashing under certain situations
– User comments are filtered if they don’t satisfy the joint’s owner.
– Newest version (5.7.0) keeps bugging you with Push allow request even when Push is on!

Overall-Rating: ★★★☆☆ – Free

Weather+ HD

This App’s great if you want to inform yourself about the weather conditions at different places in the world. Weather data is accurate and detailed. Along with nice animation it builds one of the most beatiful Weather Apps so far made.

Pros:
+ Nice GUI
+ Accurate Weather info
+ Many locations in database
+ Accurate forecast
+ Nice animation in background

Cons:
– hefty App size (> 200 MB!)

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Free

Google Translate

This App is a little miracle! It translates from and to many different languages and even tries to recognize what you have spoken! Works mostly accurate. Good for short phrases but weak on complete sentences. However if you need quick info about words, this is THE App for you to have on travel! You can even listen to what you have translated. But this feature is only available on certain languages! Anyways be careful what you say even if the translation tool is accurate! You may never know if  you intonate it the right way!

Pros:
+ Voice recognition
+ Many languages
+ Fast
+ Ad-Free
+ Saves query history
+ Accurate
+ Voice output (not all languages)

Cons:
– Weak on whole sentences
– Be careful when you try to speak the given translation!

Overall-Rating: ★★★★★ – Get App here – Free

That’s all from my first App review series. Hope you enjoyed this series and have found some useful Apps for you.

I’ll do a review on my installed Games later. Have a nice day!

Update April 12^th, 2019:

All links lead to a 404 error but most of these apps can be manually found. Sorry for the inconvenience!