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Poynt’s popular BlackBerry application has made it to iPhone, as expected, and has an added surprise: augmented reality.
At its core, Poynt offers restaurant search, yellow pages business lookup, white pages people search, and movie information all based on your current GPS coordinates. The bells and whistles that Multiplied Media have been able to include are what really set the app apart. Outside of having a smooth, simple user interface, Poynt makes great use of the iPhone’s accelerometer and proximity sensor: when oriented in landscape, it pulls up Google Maps, pinpointing the locations of whatever you’ve been searching. Most entries also have a phone number associated, which are dialed whenever you put the iPhone to your ear. Native app integration allows you to add search results to your address book, should there be a place you go to regularly.
The extra augmented reality bit will show whatever your iPhone’s camera can see on screen, with search results overlaid onto the image. When pointed downwards (according to the accelerometer), you’ll get a splay of arrows pointing in every which direction, but once you look up, results will lay themselves out in front of you, and adjust as you turn, thanks to the magnetic compass. Awesome stuff all around, although it took a bit longer to make it into the iTunes App Store than expected.
As ever, the BlackBerry app is also available for free – download links for both below. Hit up Poynt (or our hands-on with the app) for a closer look.
– Download Poynt for iPhone (Free) [iTunes Link]
– Download Poynt for BlackBerry (Free) [App World Link]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
