How many times have you had to plan a project whether at work or home and best illustrated using a flow chart? I know many times I have mapped out my plans in this form on a scratch piece of paper. Instaviz makes this mind mapping possible on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad using a slick, yet simple interface. The charts or maps you create will look professional and are customizable and quickly created. Share your project easily with colleagues or friends right from the app. Lets take a look at Instaviz and give you a chance to win a copy for yourself.
Instaviz is actually a screen size white board ready for your map to be made. To make the chart, simply draw the desired shape on the screen and it will be recognized and drawn for you. Draw circles, squares, triangles, diamonds and ellipses with your finger and watch it transform. To connect nodes, just draw a line from one to the other and the nodes will be rearranged and the line added. All of this is made possible from a shape recognition engine called Recog. This engine translates your sketched shapes almost instantly and is quite accurate. The recognition abilities of the app are truly its strength. Check out the video at the bottom of this post to watch it in action.
Not only does Instaviz recognize the shapes drawn and order the nodes according to the lines drawn, but each of these nodes and lines are fully customizable. Change the colors, line widths and even choose from a large number of fonts. When a shape is drawn it will have a number. Double tap to open the node editor and customize away. Simple and fast to use.
One improvement I would like to see is the ability to move the nodes around freely. With football quickly approaching, I can envision drawing plays and adjustments on with this app if I could move the nodes around. Maybe a free draw mode could be chosen to allow for this.
You will be amazed at the professional look of each map or chart and how easy it really is to create. It literally took me longer to click the screen shots than it did to create and customize the graph you see in the post.
I created this graph on the iPhone, but since the app is universal, it is also usable on the iPad where it is beautiful. The added screen real estate makes the app much better. The app supports retina display, multitasking and video output to external displays so IOS 4 and iPhone 4 users will be able to utilize all of the new features with Instaviz.
In case you have not noticed, to win a code (and we have several to give away) tell us five ways you have used your iPhone or iPad (or both) in the last 24 hours in the comments section. Winners will be chosen randomly from the comments.
The user experience and recognition engine makes this an amazing application for creating beautiful flow charts. You have to use Instaviz in order to understand how fluid and simple it is. Get the universal app here in the app store for $9.99 and experience it for yourself. I love thoughtful polished apps!
What I like: The recognition engine is super fast and accurate and the graphs are so fast to create and look amazing.
What could use improvement: Please give us a free draw mode! I have lots of ideas with the ability to move things where I want them.
1. Checked email
2. Updated documents with Documents To Go
3. Updated/Posted on Twitter
4. Updated/Posted on Facebook
5. Read Gear Diary
1. Listened to music
2. Played Sudoku
3. Played glass towers
4. Made some playlists
5. Used internet
Checked out FT
Checked out NYTimes
Read email
Played games
Used Amazon Kindle
1. I used the Weird NJ App to find cool things in NJ
2. Played Pandora to obscure the boredom at work
3. Checked my e-mail…5 or 6 times 🙂
4. Updated my status on FB, telling everyone about this site!
5. Checked the weather for the weekend
In last 24 hrs on my iPad I have ……..
1. Checked email
2. Worked on posts for my blog using WordPress for iPad
3. Read news using Pulse and iNews
4. Read Gear Diary (of course)
5. Entered this contest
Now I will go work on World peace
My iPad has been my wake-up and check in tool (Safari, Mail client, Weather, Calendar lookup) and my bed-time assistant (Kindle app, Netflix and a Twitter fix). So far I’m loving it.
RT @geardiary: Instaviz For iPhone/Touch/iPad Review and Giveaway #Apple iPad Applications #Apple iPhone and Touch http://bit.ly/c8mW89
Is there a limit to how far out you can branch out? Does it dynamically grow as you add more items?
Thank you for the insightful review of Instaviz. I have used graphviz before under Linux, and found it quite useful. Instaviz is an iOS front-end with a graphviz implementation, and so should provide a lot of power.
Having both an iPhone and iPad which I use on a daily basis, it’s difficult to limit the ways I’ve used them in the last 24 hours to just five ways. I use Pocket Informant on both the iPhone and iPad to keep my day on schedule, keep track of what I need to do, and keep my reading wish-list. Podcasts and the stock Music app also see daily use for keeping me informed, thinking and going.
PDF documentation and current development specifications are kept in GoodNotes, where I can easily search, annotate, and export them as needed. Although I have the LinkedIn app, the better way to access it and keep in touch is through the web site. Preferred browser is iCabMobile, in part for its ability to upload and download from more than just the Camera Roll.
For documents, I use Texpad, Editorial and DocumentsToGo as the situation warrants. Still looking for a good application to do graphs such as sequence diagrams and flow charts, which is why I have been researching Instaviz.
In addition to scheduling, planning, keeping connected, documentation and documents, in the past 24 hours I’ve also used my iPad and iPhone for online banking, e-mail (currently with Mailbox as the preferred app), and–of course–phone calls.
Chris