Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

iPhone and iPad apps for anyone on a budget.

Nothing over $.99!

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

It’s March, and you know what that means! I am not referring to the impending spring season or melting of the snow in the north. Yes, the birds are chirping and the time change means the sun stays high a little later for us all, but there are more important things that happen in March. Sunday, the bracket was announced for the March Madness tournament; 64 NCAA Div. 1 basketball teams will enter the tournament with an equal shot to be crowned this year’s national champion. There are favorites, but every year at least one Cinderella story emerges as an unranked, unknown team makes a deep run into the Final Four.

The passionate play of the teams is only half the fun though. Filling out a bracket and predicting who will make the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four and be crowned champion is a favorite activity of many Americans. Whether for a contest to win money or prizes, or just for pride, filling out the bracket has become a past time for many people. Simple Bracket for the iPhone enables a simple way to fill out, track, and compare your bracket to other users. Let’s take a quick look.

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

Just as the name suggests, Simple Bracket is easy to use. Log in with a Twitter account and get to picking. The UI of the bracket is different from any March Madness app I have used, and I have to say is much better. Swiping the bracket left or right will show two rounds at a time starting with the Round of 64 and moving all the way to the champion. This allows users to see more of the bracket without pinching and zooming. Regions for each round are displayed on the left side so basically it is a one-sided bracket set up.

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

It literally took me just a couple of minutes to have my bracket ready to go. For each game, simply tap the team you predict will win and it will automatically advance into the next round. I will not give up my picks, but I did have a couple of Cinderella teams and an interesting match up in the championship game. The app uses a statistically sound scoring system to keep up with the tournament and provide a fair leader board. Create your own pool or join others and see who wins. I have created a pool for anyone to join: simply search for Gear Diary Challenge and enter the pin 1, 2, 3, 4. Make sure your brackets are filled out, and you join before the games begin on March 19.

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

Simple Bracket provides a quick and intuitive way to fill out your NCAA bracket and follow the tournament. Get family and friends to join a pool and crown a champion. Make sure you have a Twitter account as that is the only way to sign up for a bracket. Also, please join our pool Gear Diary Challenge, pin# 1234 and let’s see who can predict the winners! Simple Bracket costs $.99 and can be found here in the app store.

What I like: Intuitive UI, fast and simple way to fill out a bracket.

What could be improved: Players may be limited since this is iPhone only and you must have a Twitter account to play.

Current App Bargains

Wipeout

iOS Universal: On sale from $1.99 to $.99

Play the popular obstacle course game show on your iOS device. See if you are good enough to make it to the Wipeout Zone.

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

*****

Where To?

iOS iPhone: On sale from $2.99 to $.99

Search for the places you are looking for and use the GPS maps to find them. All in one app.

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

*******

Wikihood People Plus

iOS iPhone: On sale from $4.99 to Free

Find information from Wikipedia about people in close relative locations.

Gear Diary Simple Bracket for iPhone Review photo

Tags: , , ,



Travis is a high school teacher and coach in a small South Texas town. His love for gadgets began at a very early age, and he has been a cross between a jock and a geek for most of his life. He has two boys and a wonderful wife who lets him be a gadget freak. He is a Mac convert and has drank the whole pitcher of kool-aid! He is also an avid guitar player and loves the outdoors, especially hunting with both a bow and rifle.
  • http://www.geardiary.com/ Michael Anderson

    It was incredibly easy to enter my info, can’t wait to see it in action as the tourney gets rolling!

    • http://www.geardiary.com/ Judie Stanford

      I stink at these things, but I’m in, too! ;)

    • dancohen

      Ditto… I just hope my boys don’t get kicked out in the first round again this year…

      • http://www.geardiary.com/ Judie Stanford

        I have no clue how they decide who gets included or what the criteria is … I’m looking for Texas, but I don’t see them. =P Yeah, I am hopeless … but I could still win. ;)

        • TMEhrlich

          There is not one Texas team in the tournament. First time since the late 70′s.

          • http://www.geardiary.com/ Judie Stanford

            Kev just informed me that UT didn’t make the cut. I’m sad. =(

            Oh well … on to the second choice. ;)



XBOX One Fallout – No XBOX or X360 Games, No Indies, No Used Games, and More

Xbox One - What about Gaming?

Well, THAT didn’t take long! In fewer than a dozen hours the XBOX One reveal went from being exciting … [...]

Cognition Episode 2 The Wise Monkey Slashes onto Mac and PC!

Cognition Episode 2 The Wise Monkey

A few months ago I reviewed the iPad version of the first ‘episode’ of Cognition, the adventure game series from [...]

Jagged Alliance Kickstarter Closes in On Goal During Final Hours

Jagged Alliance Flashback

Anyone with a history in classic PC gaming is familiar with the Jagged Alliance franchise. Going back to the 90s, [...]

2014 Kia Cadenza Stylishly Conquers the Pacific Coast

Last week I was invited to test drive the 2014 Kia Cadenza along with a small group of other bloggers [...]

Popcornflix Partnership Enhances Digital Movie Xbox 360 Application

The popcorn keeps expanding at the Popcornflix movie streaming service, as Unicorn Media, a leading Internet video solutions provider, announced [...]

Carry Yours Cards, Cash and Phone in Style With Waterfield’s New Finn Leather Wallets

With the advent of such things as Google Wallet and Apple’s Passbook there is a growing interest in virtual wallets. [...]