Gem Wear KeyPoints by Gem.is Corporation - Android App Review
Gem Wear KeyPoints by Gem.is Corporation - Android App Review. Anyone who had the pleasure of upgrading from a simple 'dumb' phone to a full fledged Android smartphone feels like that Victorian era people who came out of the woods in M. Night Shyamalan's movie right into an eight lane super highway.
That's not some idle metaphor but it is the truth in more ways than one. An Android smartphone (yeah, all right, the other kinds too) is an endpoint to the entire Internet. In other words, the user of a smartphone has at his or her possession the (almost) the entire sum of all human knowledge, from wikipedia to CNN to Techcruch to sports news to entertainment news and info.
And that's exactly the problem. How would someone handle all that data on a screen a few inch across? Even on tablets, with relatively larger screens, how would a user know which pools of knowledge should he dip into?
This is why they make and we review an app called Gem Wear KeyPoints.
What does Gem Wear KeyPoints do? It is quite simple but no less useful for that. Gem Wear KeyPoints condenses, updates and presents the headlines of major blogs, news websites and other information sources. Every headline presents a condensed version of the information with the touch of a finger.
Even though not all of our reviewers have smartwatches yet, all have smartphones and all downloaded the app, experienceing it as it works on their devices, from smartwatches to mid range smartphones, to company flagships and finally various tablets.
First of all, we'll talk about our reviewers' impressions from the app's display.First of all, Gem Wear Keypoints displays a status bar with a notification from new info sources, blogs, news websites and other sites as to which if any new articles have appeared. Our reviewers loved the fact that this notification status does not interfere with the display of even tiny smartwatches.
Next, the reviewers liked the way the news item, or gem as the developers of the app called them, appear. For any news item, a short and descritpive headline appears, with just enough information to make the user understand what the news item is all about. Next, a series of labels appear, labels that connect the news item to other news items and makes the user instantly understang the grouping of the topic, whether it is about sports, or economics, or middle eastern news or other type of topic.
Finally, the app displays the start of the news item text itself, using as much or little space it's got on the device it is installed on. Our smartwatch users were very pleased with the result that allowed them to understand in a glance if the new item has any interest for them, even on tiny smartwatch displays.
Last but not least is the collection editing feature, that also works through the app's website, here. The user gets to manage collections of news sources, selecting which websites and which types of information the user will be presented with, in a way all our reviewers had no difficulty managing, even though some are far from being tech savy.
It is the conclusion of an overwhelming amount of our reviewers that Gem Wear KeyPoints does exactly what it supposed to do, i.e. Present to the user a condesned display of news items (gems) and a enough info to let the use decide if and when he or she wants to read more about it or just push it our of his or her way.
That's not some idle metaphor but it is the truth in more ways than one. An Android smartphone (yeah, all right, the other kinds too) is an endpoint to the entire Internet. In other words, the user of a smartphone has at his or her possession the (almost) the entire sum of all human knowledge, from wikipedia to CNN to Techcruch to sports news to entertainment news and info.
And that's exactly the problem. How would someone handle all that data on a screen a few inch across? Even on tablets, with relatively larger screens, how would a user know which pools of knowledge should he dip into?
This is why they make and we review an app called Gem Wear KeyPoints.
What does Gem Wear KeyPoints do? It is quite simple but no less useful for that. Gem Wear KeyPoints condenses, updates and presents the headlines of major blogs, news websites and other information sources. Every headline presents a condensed version of the information with the touch of a finger.
In addition, Gem Wear KeyPoints is smartwatch compatible. It presents the headlines on the background of the watch, with interrupting in anyway to the normal presentation of the time and various notifications. With the touch of a finger, the app opens up and its full display is shown with condensed versions of the various newscasts and blogs updates.
Even though not all of our reviewers have smartwatches yet, all have smartphones and all downloaded the app, experienceing it as it works on their devices, from smartwatches to mid range smartphones, to company flagships and finally various tablets.
First of all, we'll talk about our reviewers' impressions from the app's display.First of all, Gem Wear Keypoints displays a status bar with a notification from new info sources, blogs, news websites and other sites as to which if any new articles have appeared. Our reviewers loved the fact that this notification status does not interfere with the display of even tiny smartwatches.
Next, the reviewers liked the way the news item, or gem as the developers of the app called them, appear. For any news item, a short and descritpive headline appears, with just enough information to make the user understand what the news item is all about. Next, a series of labels appear, labels that connect the news item to other news items and makes the user instantly understang the grouping of the topic, whether it is about sports, or economics, or middle eastern news or other type of topic.
Finally, the app displays the start of the news item text itself, using as much or little space it's got on the device it is installed on. Our smartwatch users were very pleased with the result that allowed them to understand in a glance if the new item has any interest for them, even on tiny smartwatch displays.
Last but not least is the collection editing feature, that also works through the app's website, here. The user gets to manage collections of news sources, selecting which websites and which types of information the user will be presented with, in a way all our reviewers had no difficulty managing, even though some are far from being tech savy.
It is the conclusion of an overwhelming amount of our reviewers that Gem Wear KeyPoints does exactly what it supposed to do, i.e. Present to the user a condesned display of news items (gems) and a enough info to let the use decide if and when he or she wants to read more about it or just push it our of his or her way.
- Score: 4.8. We would have given it a straight 5.0 but for the word "gem" which appears on every news item and takes up valuable place..
- Description: A news items display app that shows news items according to an editable collection and works on smartwatches.
- Good Points: Editable collection list. Short, condensed display with labels. A huge variety of display items. The ability to add new news items sources.
- Bad Points: Just a small nagging thing, the word "gem" appearing every time and taking up valuable display area.
- Experience: Using the app is simplicity itself. No one had any problem. Configuring the collections of the news sources was a little more complicated but everyone managed.
- Longevity: Very long, for all those who need the sports, coocking, news or economy news all the time.
- Link to Google Play
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