When I was looking at interesting apps one day, the description of this one caught my attention. If you’ve ever wondered about certain interesting facts about countries (for me this was a “yes”) you have been to or want to visit?

When you visit new countries, it’s good to know things like what to avoid, how to politely say “hello”,  and if your in an area where you need to tip. It’s also good to have an understanding of the countries laws. This is what the Cultures app achieves.

Interface

The Cultures App follows the Apple UI but isn’t that great when talking about its aesthetics.

The display of the content is a little annoying. When you pick the culture and country you are interested in, a screen pops up in a box with a fitted text which is partially transparent on something that looks exactly like the background. All of this and the image is disappointingly put on top of a world image. If they would have stayed with the UI guidelines, it would look much better and be much easier to read.

Here is a link to the App Store

One more change I would like to see is the “More” tab. The usual “More” button would produce a bunch of other items that can be changed from the Tool bar, much like the iPod application. Given in a sloppy UI, the button produces a bunch of other applications made by the developer.

World Customs

Let’s talk about the reasons why you would purchase this app. After you pick the country your interested in, you get a list to pick from like, Gender Issues, Taboos, Gestures, Law & Order, Personal Space & Touching, Greetings, and Communication.

There are some listed items that are confusing to me, while the others are quite helpful. Maybe I’m the only person that feels this way.  The ones that were most interesting to me were Driving Rules, Laws, Greetings and Tipping. This app has been ranked two out of four, unfortunately. It’s the two I don’t really worry about. It would be helpful if some more Law and Order information were available as well as driving and tipping. Drugs isn’t a topic I really have to worry about.

One thing about what is listed under the categories is that some countries aren’t included in some subject matters.

Phrases

This is a disclosure before the summary I am about to give about the application phrases.  The app costs $2.99 and it isn’t worth it to me so I haven’t tested it.

Conclusion

The application is a free one. If you are likely to be visiting new countries or touring countries often (probably more people from Europe than from the US) this is an application to get.

I would allow a higher rating for Cultures if they changed a few things and made them better. The user interface needs to be changed and the amount of information given needs to increase, which is why us readers use it in the first place.