Toothache, fever be damned. This is one app that we loved on the iPad and we just HAD to review when its iPhone/iPod touch avatar came out.
Just in case you have not noticed (we hope you have, really) the Daily App section has been a bit MIA of late. Blame it on a tooth that insisted on hurting and temperatures that did not seem to know how to come down. However, things are better now on those fronts and right on cue, Apple released a version of its GarageBand music-making app for the iPhone and iPod touch. And here’s what we think of it.
After the sound of initial cheering at the thought of “GarageBand in our pockets” had died down, what followed were groans. Let’s face it, at 501 MB, GarageBand is definitely not a download for those with less than brisk broadband speeds at their disposal. Anyway, we got it on our iPhone 4S and our iPod touch and we must confess that the cheering returned.
For, truth be told, this is a miniature version of the app that is such a rage on both the iPad and the Mac itself. No, we are not professional musicians so we cannot really get into the depth of the options offered and their quality, or lack thereof, but suffice to say you get your choice of drums, guitars, and keyboard to mess around with, and can also attach a guitar to the iPhone if you wish. We noticed that the relatively squishy screen of the iPhone (as compared to the iPad) meant that the keyboard had fewer keys to mess around with, but honestly, they were good enough for utter amateurs like us.
The essential charm of the app for the general public remains its ability to let you create music even if you do not know too much about playing the instruments in the app. You can use the autoplay option available in different instruments to mix and match decent snatches of music and even tweak the final version before showing it off . And of course, you can play away on instruments by just tapping your finger on that amazingly responsive screen. No, the experience is not quite AS good as on the iPad, where you actually had more space to see where your fingers were going and which guitar strings were plucked or which key being struck, but the fact that you can now do so without having to lug out your tablet surely compensates for that. We also saw some time lags while loading instruments on the iPhone 4 – perhaps those using the iPhone 4S will suffer less, thanks to the better processor.
We doubt GarageBand on the iPhone will be the kind of music creation device that its iPad version is, but what we cannot doubt is the fact that it is loads of fun and gives most of the other on-screen musical instrument apps on the iTunes App Store a real run for their money. Must download if you love tinkering around with musical instruments.
(oh yes, and Daily App is back – but we will let our posts do the talking henceforth)
Get it from: iTunes App Store
Price: $4.99
