Friday, February 5, 2010

Field guides of the future

I've just downloaded BirdGuides' Birds of Britain and Ireland (Pro Edition) for my iPhone. Described as a high-quality digital field guide, first impressions are very good indeed - they seem to have done a very comprehensive job.

In fact, although a copy of that birders' Bible, the Collins Bird Guide, will always remain in my car for ID emergencies, this is the app that, when I first bought the iPhone, I dreamed about someone developing. You have pictures, descriptions and calls of 271 species at your fingertips, for a very reasonable £14.99, and without having to carry a chunky tome in your pocket. It'll complement the Collins Guide very nicely.

In the March issue of Bird Watching, new subscribers can get a free copy of the new second edition of the Collins Bird Guide, and there'll be an in-depth review of that iPhone app. I'm off to really put it through its paces now...

Matt Merritt

3 comments:

Dale Forbes said...

yup, sounds cool. pity I only have a blackberry. maybe I can convince the company I should rather have an iPhone ;-)

Daryl said...

Downloaded it myself a week or so ago - the first non-free ipod touch app I've downloaded!

I agree that it's a pretty nifty little bit of kit and the info is excellent. Not sure quite how it'll go down in the local hides when I pull that out of my pocket instead of a book! I know some people are going to think I'm about to make/take a phone call!

Looking forward to your review.

Mike Weedon said...

Know exactly what you mean, Daryl! You do get some strange looks when you start messing with it, but I'm really impressed so far.

Get them to splash out, Dale!