When I posted about the website 1448Apps.com, fellow blogger Elizabeth Christian commented and pointed me to PandoraBox, a free app that lets you do two things: 1) see all the new apps that have just been added — you don't need to go hunting through all 20 categoriesand 2) see all those apps that have just been reduced in price or made free. This is a great way to track those specials that vendors offer when they reduce the price of their app for one day. That section has two subcategories, paid and free, so that you can see, for example, just those apps which are free for a day. The Newest apps category is also divided into paid and free. You can check every day to see what free new apps are available. The app also lets you save as many favorites as you want to your Favorites, and if one or more of your apps are on sale, then there's a red dot over the Favorites button. Thanks, Elizabeth, for pointing this out and for your description.
Elizabeth's signature includes a link to this great app page on the Apple website that points you to some of the more useful apps. I think I mentioned it before, but it's worth looking at because the selection likely keeps changing. The page gives featured apps in seven categories: fitness, household, apps for going out, managing money, traveling, getting things done, productivity, and games. There's also a section of Staff Picks, which includes Pick of the Week.
AppMiner
I really dislike these reviews that seem to ignore the obvious limitations of a product as posted by other users. This app is not even close to App Miner in functionality, stability and polish. Not even close. BY doing a review of an application and not understanding where it places in perspective to other applications of the same kind does a disservice to both your readers as well as the other products.
App Miner vs. Pandora Box
Everyone has preferences & luckily we're in a country where we not only have the right to choose, but many to choose FROM. I never said Pandora Box was the ONLY way to find new or discounted apps, nor did I say it was the best. I simply informed people of its existance because I prefer it & happen to have it on my phone. It does just what I need it to do, no more, no less. I'm sure everyone knows there are other apps available to them, but now they know a little more about this one in particular. If someone uses one of the other apps designed to help you find apps, I hope they'll be kind enough to share a review on it as well. :)
Pandorabox
I don't completely disagree with you, just your understanding of the role that all of you play when you review an application. As a software developer for most of my 27 years, it has become obvious that once something gets presented like this most will see it and just download it because "it was reviewed, it must be good". The reality is that there are a lot of apps out there with the same (or mostly the same) feature set and by reviewing one in isolation of the rest, I believe, we do an injustice to the others. Now, I am probably just a crazy old developer type, but I'd prefer to see reviews of several apps that share the same feature and some comparisons across those apps.
BTW, Pandorabox apparantly doesn't do everything most people liked about it in the first place - they are getting a lot of negative comments because they changed their feature set, removing the ratings that they used to display. I'd be happy to provide a review of the other apps in this space, including my favorite, AppMiner.
oops missed this thread
Thanks, Dennis, for your comments. For some reason I'm not receiving notifications so I missed this thread.
I guess I agree with you — that it would be best to put an app in the context of other apps. And if I were a full-time paid professional, I'd do that. The people who blog here are volunteers, except for me, and probably just don't have the time or interest to do that. As for myself, I work very part-time for the company and have a wide range of responsibilities, so I don't have time to do the requisite research either. When I come across a freebie that seems useful and that people seem to like, I post about it. (Of course, Werner, God love him, is just the opposite. Watch for his encyclopedic reviews that cover every last app in a particular niche.)
Jim