App Review: Calc Tap for iPhone

Today I have for you a different kind of application review…a productivity app!! We have not had one of these in a while! The app is called Calc Tap and it is a neat spin on calculator applications for the iPhone.

Calc Tap by Stéphan Barbé

Calc Tap is an elementary calculator that has an interactive paper tape. Before I get into what the interactive tape is, note that this is an elementary calculator, which means it does not include advanced calculations beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In other words, Calc Tap is not a replacement for the stock iPhone calculator. What Calc Tap is however is a very innovative supplement to the stock iPhone calculator.

The first great feature of Calc Tap is that the user interface is very clean and simple. You have the entire calculator along the bottom of the app and a very large white space for calculations. At you begin typing on the calculator, your inputs simply populate in the white space above and Calc Tap automatically adds the proper edits for you within your calculations such as the equals line.

After you have the white space fairly filled up with your calculations, this is where Calc Tap presents its innovative feature, the interactive scroll tape. This is such a useful feature for a calculator, especially if you have very long calculations because Calc Tap allows you to scroll through your calculations in the white space. In other words, you have a full history of all of your calculations that you can go back and look over in case you made a mistake, for example.

However, the interactive tape does not stop here. As you are scrolling through, you can tap once on any of your operations or results and Calc Tap will copy whatever you tapped to the bottom of your calculations where you can continue to use the calculator. And ofcourse, if you ever need to erase everything, you can use the clear button on the calculator or simply shake your iPhone to clear the entire screen of calculations.

Lastly, Calc Tap includes a feature that I have never seen before in a calculator and I would say that the feature is more for fun than of any actual use. The feature is a text-mode that converts your numerical inputs into characters or words. When you have some calculations typed on the white space, simply tilt your iPhone toward the ground (the iPhone screen faces the ground) and all of your numerical calculations will change to text. Like I said, I don’t find the feature overly useful, but it is a fun and neat.

I have two promotional codes to give away today for Calc Tap, so if you would like to check out Calc Tap for yourself, simply post a meaningful comment below about the app.

Calc Tap is currently available in the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

Winners chosen at random; Contest ends June 29, 2009 at 11:59PM; Contests open to Canada residents only.