Top 5 Luxury Lifestyle Apps
The Gentleman’s Journal reviews top five apps for those with taste for elegance as part of National App Week – a week celebrating an industry in which Britain’s considered the world’s best, the app development industry.
Here, Michael Banks of Corporate Group takes us through his top five luxury app
1. Amble
What does it do?
Created by Louis Vuitton to establish a community of elegant ‘amblers’, the Amble app, which is presented like a high fashion magazine, allows you to record your own unique tours, referred to as ‘ambles’. An amble can be any experience and the app can be used anywhere in the world, although ambles obviously aren’t available for every destination. You can save your own experiences by capturing your travel memories – in pictures, notes, sounds and videos – and sharing them with your friends and family via social media, or plan ahead by taking inspiration from other amblers’ suggestions. Augmented reality is used to guide you through others’ ambles.
What’s good about it?
The best feature is the celebrity tours – the team at Louis Vuitton has got celebrities on board to create amble suggestions, so you can have one of your icons take you on a personal city tour, bar crawl or luxury shopping spree, albeit through your smartphone. Sofia Coppola, for example, has added a New York City Guide. Surprisingly, this app’s also completely free.
What’s bad about it?
The continued use of GPS needed to follow the ambles in real time will dramatically reduce your smartphone’s battery life.
Verdict:
This is a neat app for recording your experiences but an acquired taste for those wanting inspiration because the suggestions are sourced from such an elite community.
Score: 7/10
Amble is available on for free on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad here itunes.apple com
2. Great British Chefs
To celebrate National App Week, we review the stunning cookery app that features some of the most exciting and creative chefs in Britain today.
Here, Michael Banks of Corporate Group takes us through the Great British Chefs app, available on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
What does it do?
The Great British Chefs app boasts three key ingredients: 12 chefs, 180 recipes and 15 michelin stars. Each chef presents three full menus with five courses each. There are 180 recipes in total, with photos, ingredients lists, cooking times, wine recommendations and step by step instructions. The 15 michelin stars are the combined accolades of the contributing chefs, including: Tom Aikens, Francis Atkins, Pascal Aussignac, Daniel Clifford, Simon Hulston, Nuno Mendes, Nathan Outlaw, Shaun Rankin, James Sommerin, Agnar Sverrisson, Marcus Wareing and Martin Wishart. Phew.
What’s good about it?
An advantage over hard copy cookbooks is that the app provides video explanations for when the recipes get to a particularly tricky stage. Special versions are available for summer time and Christmas, too. If you need fresh inspiration and the confidence to execute a great new menu, all the ideas and advice are right her in one app.
What’s bad about it?
It’s very difficult to find anything bad about this app, other than that it’s not available on Android devices, so it’s no wonder Great British Chefs is hailed as one of the best cookery apps available, even the presentation is impeccable. It’s worth noting, though, that this is an app for those who are semi-serious about cooking; it’s not a quick meal guide, and a fondness for pigs’ cheeks and fish with faces would be an advantage.
Verdict:
There are no ‘celebrity chefs’ here, just the best in the profession. If you’re planning a dinner party, the menu plans complete with wine recommendations will save you trawling through endless cookbooks and agonising over course combinations, not to mention the hours you could waste procrastinating in the wine aisle of your local supermarket. With this app you can be absolutely confident that, so long as you follow the methods correctly, your guests will be impressed.
Score:10/10
Great British Chefs is available for £4.99 on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad here itunes.apple com,
3. Luxury Attaché City Guide
What does it do?
This app gives guidance on the best shops, restaurants, clubs, spas and hotels in cities all over the world.
What’s good about it?
The Luxury Attaché City Guide app makes you feel instantly at home wherever you are in the world. Like having an old friend on hand, this app will give you valuable local advice on where is good to go and how to find your way around. If you’ve ever landed in a great city and not known where to go for the best shops, restaurants, clubs, spas and hotels, you need never feel lost again. Local knowledge is just a click away, and with features like Access Perks this app really imparts a wealth of knowledge that enables you to make informed decisions about spending your money, wherever you happen to be.
What’s bad about it?
Although this is a free app, some features must be paid for. However, it is money well spent particularly as with insider knowledge you’re likely to make wise decisions on where to spend.
Verdict:
The Luxury Attaché City Guide is like a friend and guide all rolled into one. It’s a fantastic app – a great idea, well executed.
Score: 10/10
Luxury Attaché City Guide is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad here luxuryattache.com
4. Wine Spectator
What does it do?:
This handy little app allows users to access wine reviews and ratings straight from the experts. It includes detailed tasting notes, release prices and current auction prices on wine from twelve different countries. It’s as much of an education tool for wine lovers as it is a handy go-to app for the enthusiastic chef wanting to make a good wine choice, and it subtly teachers users how to assess the overall quality and character of each region’s wines and when they will be at their most enjoyable. With vintage charts covering fifty-five of the world’s principal wine regions and grape varieties, the content is thorough but easily searchable by name, producer, price, score and region. It’s also up to date with news feeds, fresh reports and insights direct from the Wine Spectator website.
What’s good about it?:
Each review is written by an experienced ‘Wine Spectator’ editor, using strict blind-tasting methods so you can be sure you’re getting sound advice. The regular updates ensure the content’s always current and up to a thousand wine reviews are added each month. The ‘Expert Picks’ feature is superb, offering advice on which wines to purchase and allows a neat cut through of what is, admittedly, a vast amount of information.
What’s bad about it?:
The free version is a bit of a taster, albeit a very extensive one, but those in the industry might be tempted to pay the $2.99 per month it costs to unlock all 275,000 wine ratings.
Verdict:
There’s so much information here from trusted sources, even without paying for additional content, so it’s well worth the download.
Score: 8/10
Wine Spectator is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad here iTunes.apple.com
5. Private Island News
What does it do?
This app offers news and commentary about private islands all over the world. This apps for anyone involved with private islands, from luxury travellers right through to developers and brokers. For the former, it gives info on top resorts, weather reports and breaking news. For the latter, it offers insight on market value, climate change issues affecting the islands and current affairs that concern visitors and residents.
What’s good about it?
This app contains a good spread of intelligent content that’s easy to navigate and can be used for a variety of purposes. Brokers will find it useful for researching the market value of private islands while at the other end of the spectrum society types can research which islands are frequented by which celebrities. The app also broaches serious matters, including: climate change, local politics and business affairs.
What’s bad about it?
Aside from the 3G startup crash issue widely reported by iPhone users, this app seems to have a pretty decent usability. The elite topic might not be for some, but for those interested it is a thorough resource on all private island current affairs, politics and business topics. Surprisingly though, aside from the obviously stunning shots of private islands, this app isn’t particularly stylist. It’s more reminiscent of a budget airline than a private jet.
Score: 7/10
Private Island News is available for free on the iPod, iPod Touch and iPad here privateislandnews.com
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