About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Some iPhone apps take a little time to get to know and appreciate, and that's the case with highly-rated, and Apple "Staff Favorites" and "App of the Week"-featured Localscope. At first glance, it appears to be simply a way to easily switch between Google, Bing, and Twitter search modes, but it's much more than that. One example is its "augmented reality" view, which lets you hold up your phone, then scan your surroundings (full 360 degrees) while icons and info-tabs for the places and/or services you searched pop onto the screen.

Read on for the full review.

Pros

• Augmented reality feature is terrific for understanding what's nearby.
• Compass is a reliable pointer to your destination.

Cons

• Google and Bing search modes provide similar results.

Description

• Price: $1.99.
• File size: 4.3 MB.
• Average iTunes user rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
• Quickly scroll through results from Google, Bing, Foursquare, Twitter, Wikimapia, without changing screens.
• Not locked into user's current position. Explore any location/city globally through search.
• Search in 3 views: list, map, and augmented reality.
• Compass engine works in real time and points direction to your destination.
• Integrates with popular turn-by-turn navigation apps as well as Twitter and Facebook.
• Type-in search, or select from multiple categories (restaurants, airports, etc.).
• Aggregates results (phone number, map link, e-mail address, sharing to social sites) on a single summary screen.

Guide Review - Review: Localscope Navigation and Location Services App for iPhone and iOS

The Localscope iPhone app bundles some of the most popular search services, adds innovative features, and lets you easily tap into information from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

After you install and start the $1.99 app, you are presented with a familiar search box and category search screen - with a difference. At the bottom of the screen you'll find a swipe-scrollable list including Google, Bing, Foursquare, Twitter, and Wikimapia. I found it convenient, for example, to Google a search, and then see if there was anything relevant about the search in Twitter.

Within each of these services, you may easily switch between list, map, and augmented reality views. Augmented reality simply taps into your camera's phone to show a live image on your screen, then Localscop imposes a target, and icons for every location relevant to your search term. Target an icon to show distance to the selected location, and you may easily drill down for complete information. This is a terrific feature, and I found it most useful in busy urban settings, in which you could hold up your phone and easily and effectively scan for detailed information about everything around you.

Localscope's "compass" icon is another nice feature offering a unique search capability. This isn't the magnetic compass feature that is so sensitive to magnetic interference (such as riding in a car), but rather, it provides a bearing based on the phone's map and other data to give you a reliable pointer to your destination. Again, most useful in an urban setting when you're on foot, and can easily see details about your destination, including real-time distance, and direction. It's essentially impossible to get lost in this scenario.

It takes some time to get to know Localscope, but once you do, you'll be hooked.