FATN Review: Living Social

[msbaylor]

F.A.T.N. stands for Free App Tobe Noted. See here for more on this.

Living Social is a very interesting app.



The LivingSocial app allows you to keep track of movies you've watched, want to see, didn't like, etc. and the ratings you give them. It also does this with books, restaurants, beer, video games, & music. It will also give you recommendations in each category (provided you have entered a few entries). I personally like this because I can keep track of videos I've liked, what I want to see, books I want to read, places I want to eat at, etc. It is also somewhat of an inventory application because you can mark each entry as owned, want it, etc.



In the image above you cannot see it, but there is a button at the bottom that when touched, will give you recommendations for that category.



In each category you can search for a particular item - movie, book, restaurant in your city/town, etc.



I like the application UrbanSpoon, but it does not list my location within the application, however using this application, I can do somewhat the same thing. Unlike Urbanspoon, LivingSocial relies upon users to catalog information rather than the developers doing it.





You will have to create an account at LivingSocial before you can begin using the application.

You can also edit your entries online, and it seems to be faster to get started with. Within the actual website you can also lookup TV Shows, which is not in the app for some reason.

There is a feed button, which I am not real sure what this is. My guess is, that it is the latest things that users are doing in that particular category. You have the option to add friends and then check to see what you friends have been watching/reading/etc. somewhat like the Facebook feed.

Pros:
-FREE
-Great social app, especially if there is an app that doesn't include the categories you like or doesn't support you city.
-Syncs with you account very quickly.
-Wide range of items.

Cons:
-UI is a bit clunky - it's hard to get from one category to another
-It's somewhat hard to get started on the application itself,should use a computer's browser to add first entries.
-Cannot search created lists directly.
-No instructions for app found...yet

Video
Normal | Mobile

Click here to see more screen shots.

4/5

FREE

I would like to see the addition of the TVShows category and a Wine category would be nice (as I am not a beer drinker).
Also you cannot search through your favorites or what you've done. However if you use the search function, when it lists the results it will say if you've watched it or whatever (see screen shot above).



P.S. Let me know if you like the FATN Review idea. Also I have thought about posting very short videos with my reviews. Would anyone be interested in this?

[msbaylor]

After speaking with the company that released the software I metioned about adding wine to their categories and it seems that they will be adding it soon. I really hope they allow the iPhone app to work with this category as well...it then might just be the best wine app out there for the iPhone.

[cjvitek]

They should add cigars.