First Look: Bento for iPhone and iPod touch

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

iPhone owners who are searching for an easy-to-use database management app for their iPhones can stop looking. Today, FileMaker Inc. announced the immediate availability of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch (click opens iTunes), a US$4.99 portable edition of Bento for Mac.

The app comes with 25 built-in templates for business or personal use, plus a blank template that can be used to create your own customized templates. Some of the included business templates can be used for issue tracking, time billing, and expenses, while personal templates include a diet log, recipes, vehicle maintenance, and home inventory.

Like the Mac app, Bento for iPhone and iPod touch is integrated with Contacts, Safari, Mail, and Google Maps. Additionally, Bento can be used to dial an iPhone. Databases can be synchronized wirelessly (via WiFi) with Bento 2.0v4 for Mac. This new version of Bento 2.0 for Mac is a free update that is available for download to all existing users today.

The video below features Ryan Rosenberg, VP of Marketing and Services for FileMaker, describing and demonstrating many of the features of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch. TUAW will have a full review of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch in the near future.

First Look: Bento for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 05 May 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First Look: Bento for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 05 May 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Quick App: AT&T myWireless for iPhone

Today AT&T’s very own application, myWireless, was released in the the App Store for all AT&T subscribers to download. myWireless [iTunes Link] is a crafty little app that lets iPhone users manage their AT&T accounts easily from the device itself. You can view your data and minutes usage, view and pay your bill, and you can even add and remove extra features like text messaging and early nights/weekends, all from the comfort of your very own iPhone.

I’ve tested it out and pretty much any option on AT&T’s website is built into this app. You can even access your full detailed bill via PDF file.

It is important to note that you must have an active AT&T Mobility account that is registered for online account management in order to use this application.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: AT&T myWireless for iPhone

FileMaker debuts Bento for iPhone

FileMaker unveiled Bento for iPhone on Tuesday, giving users the ability to use the personal database application on their iPhone.

Quick App: FileMaker’s Bento for iPhone

FileMaker was gracious enough to provide TiPb with a walkthrough of their just-released Bento for iPhone and iPod touch ($4.99 - iTunes link). Coming as it does from a wholly-owned Apple subsidiary, Bento shows every bit as much polish as the built-in iPhone apps. Features include:

• 25 pre-designed, ready-to-use templates that can be quickly customized with a few taps.
• Create your own forms to organize virtually any data on an iPhone or iPod touch.
• Tap to call a contact, view a Web site, send an email or display a map all while in a Bento library or collection.
• Manage anything from contacts and club members to projects, parties, medical bills and vehicle maintenance.
• View libraries and collections, create new records, edit details, sort data, modify forms – even use the iTunes-style search to find information quickly on the go.
• Select from 15 field types including text, numbers, choice, checkbox, media, time, date, durations, currency, rating, address, phone number, email, URL and IM Account.
• Wireless Synchronization between Bento for iPhone and iPod Touch and Bento 2 for Mac
• Works with built-in iPhone apps Contacts, Safari, Phone Dialing, Mail and Google Maps

An updated version of Bento 2 for the Mac is shipping at the same time, which is required for the sync to function. There’s no support for multiple iPhone to Bento 2 Mac sync yet, though you can manually sync one device after the other. Likewise, Apple doesn’t allow hooks into the Calendar (yet?!) but for things like Contacts, Bento for iPhone’s ability to mirror the built in Contacts database, and then transparently superset it with extra data (i.e. you could add a star rating to all your friends) is very impressive.

Most impressive, however, is the typical Apple-esque ease of use. Bento does a lot of heavy lifting so users, whether exclusively on the iPhone, or syncing between iPhone and desktop, don’t have to.

If you have any need at all to organize personal data on your iPhone, give Bento for iPhone a look and let us know what you think!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: FileMaker’s Bento for iPhone

iPhone 3.0: Parental Controls May Change App Store Rejection Policies?

With all of the rejections in the App Store going on as of late it’s about time we have some good news for our pal Trent Reznor - see link above - and all of the developers out there.

It seems that Apple has rejected a newspaper reading app, Newspaper(s) [iTunes Link], for containing objectionable content. This app contains newspapers from around the world and one of them has a picture of a topless woman. Apple, however, let the developer know in it’s rejection email that Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone OS 3.0 and that it “would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available.”

So there you have it folks. Will these new parental control features (see them in our iPhone 3.0 Walkthrough) help cut down on rejected apps or will we still see these types of rejections take place? Sound off in the comments!

[Via iLounge]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.0: Parental Controls May Change App Store Rejection Policies?

Attack of the Twofer: BlackBerry Briefly Outsells iPhone

Yes, it’s true. Just like CrackBerry’s reporting. According to NPD (via Engadget), the oldest remaining version of the BlackBerry Curve, when heavily discounted and given away in two-for-one promo deals, briefly regained the #1 best seller position on the smartphone index from the iPhone 3G, which had to settle for a high-margin #2. Also, discounted and given away two-for-one, when combined with heavy marketing and the power and reach of the Verizon network… did not. BlackBerry Storm was #3.

Cutting margins and giving away product may pad the numbers, but as Palm found out with the Centro, you can’t make “zero” up on volume.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Attack of the Twofer: BlackBerry Briefly Outsells iPhone

Twitterrific update due to be released soon for iPhone

It’s official: the iPhone is becoming the battle ground for the slickest Twitter applications around, which means nothing but good things for the iPhone user numbers. Not too long along, we saw Tweetstack walk into the ring and bring your TweetDeck columns to your phone. Now iPhone and desktop veteran, Twitterrific, from Iconfactory, has bulked up [...]

Review: Yahoo Messenger for iPhone

This fine chat client features a very easy-to-use interface, but at this stage, it's likely of interest largely to existing Yahoo Messenger users looking for a mobile app.

Terminator: Salvation iPhone game preview released - and looks pretty interesting

The trailer for Gameloft’s iPhone version of its upcoming Terminator: Salvation game leaked, and we’re pretty impressed. We can’t tell how the controls will work, but the graphics and gameplay really do look great. iPhone as a game platform is advancing in leaps and bounds. Early reports indicate the game is very smooth and complex, and [...]

Bioware reveals new Mass Effect game coming to the iPhone

It was revealed last Friday that Mass Effect 2, the sequel to Bioware's highly successful Mass Effect, will have a spin-off game entitled Mass Effect: Jacob's...