Open Door Networks and Project A say they’ve
enhanced their line of “Envi” iPhone and iPod
touch applications by shipping three new apps,
plus a major upgrade to the iEnvision web-image
browser, on which the line is based.
The new Art Envi Deluxe (US$2.99) is an “endless
art museum in your pocket.” It begins where Art
Envi leaves off, with new features and access to
additional artists and works. The app features
“shows” by almost 100 new artists, with artists
now organized both alphabetically and by period.
Users can save any show image for future use;
there are more works for many artists, and works
include captions where available. The app has
also been sped up in a number of areas. Of
particular note to Japanese users is a new group
of Asian artists.
London Envi and Paris Envi, $1.99 each, utilize
content from the “Michael Brein’s Travel Guides
to Sightseeing by Public Transportation” series
to establish the start of a set of travel
companion apps. The apps combine everything
needed to get to 50 of the top points of interest
in each city with the display and geo-location
strengths of the iPhone.
Users can look at an overview and photo of each
attraction, see which subway line to take, where
to get off, and how to walk from the station —
all without even needing Internet access. They
can view the location of the sight in the iPhone
Maps application, and instructions for exactly
how to get there from wherever they are. They can
also pull up the official web site for most
attractions.
iEnvision takes advantage of the iPhone’s
built-in Internet access and high-resolution
multi-touch display to organize web-based images
into tap-and-play full-screen automated
slideshows, or “web shows.” iEnvision ships with
a number of Web show “groups” built in, and users
can also add groups and shows of their own
favorite categories. New iEnvision 1.1 features
include the ability to save any image and to
automatically create a show on any topic,
“poster” images displayed before a show starts, a
significant overall speed-up and a number of
other features requested by users. iEnvision 1.1
remains priced at $9.99, with upgrades free for
all users.
Other applications (each 99 cents) in the Envi product line include:
° Art Envi: basic collections from over 100 artists;
° Comic Envi: comic strips, web comics and
cartoons, including today’s and past archives;
° Kid Book Envi: hundreds of classic children’s
books for beginning through advanced readers;
° News Envi: newspaper front pages from around
the U.S. and the world, plus real-time news
photos;
° Parks Envi: photos from hundreds of U.S.
National Parks, Monuments and other sites;
° Space Envi: thousands of astronomy photographs,
including the latest from Mars and Saturn
Details of the full product line are available at we-envision.com