Appletell reviews Banner Deluxe for iPhone, iPod touch [updated]

Category: Lifestyle
Developer: Vanilla Breeze
Minimum System Requirements: iPhone 2.2 software
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 16.8MB
Price: $0.99 (normally $2.99)
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Banner Deluxe is one of those apps for the iPhone that might cause you to scratch your head and wonder to yourself, “Why?” I’m still wondering myself, but if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I’d rather have the solution before the problem than the problem before the solution.

Banner Deluxe has 9 fonts, 75 backgrounds, 85 textures and 90 symbols, with more coming down the line. There are also 40 themes, which are predetermined combinations of the previously mentioned options to help speed along your message display process.

All you have to do is write some text, which can include special symbols, and then select some options. Just like you’d expect, you get to pick a font, a font texture and a background I do have to hand it to the developer on the symbols. ou enter them with what looks exactly like the widescreen keyboard. I’m not sure how it’s done, but it’s a very consistent look.

The one feature that actually stands out from other banner apps is that Banner Lite and Deluxe can use more than one device in sync to display the same (long) message. So, the next time you and all two of your friends line up with your iPhones, you can display “!!!!SUPER NERDZZZ!!!!!!” without having to wait for the message to loop around.

So, the real problem with Banner Deluxe starts to show up when you start playing back your banner. The playback speed is adjustable, but the choppiness is not. The frame rate is very low. I know the iPhone can handle video, 3D games and Pong, so I’m certain it could handle smooth scrolling text. Also, if you leave the app and come back later, you’ll still have a record of your previous banner texts, but the last theme you used? Gone. You’ll just have to select it again. This seems like one of those “oops” moments for a developer, because I’m sure they meant to put that in.

On top of what I’m going to call the two bug fixes, I’d also like to see a few more things. First off, why can’t I use my own images as the background? That’s a no brainer. Second, did you watch the video clip? I partially take back that comment about music playback. You can run iPod in the background, so you can play your own music. I’d still like to see it integrated with the app. There could be specific sounds built into the themes, or an easy way to loop one song.

Unfortunately, there is no free version for you to try. There’s a scaled back Lite version that costs $.99, but no free version. I’d really like to see the Lite version cut off the fat and go fully free so everyone can try before they buy. But at the current level of functionality, I can’t recommend this app to anyone but the most die hard side-scrolling text fans (are there any?). At $2.99, it’s just too much for the features it provides.

Update: January 15, 2009

Vanilla Breeze has updated the app to v1.1 to address some of the issues that I detailed. Banner Deluxe now remembers all of your settings when you exit and return. They claim to have modestly improved the frame rate, but it still looks really choppy to me. Maybe that’s not a big deal for you, but it is for me. You can also use your own picture as a backdrop. This actually seems more like an afterthought than a full on feature.

When you select your image for a custom backdrop it becomes apparent that the iPhone was made to import pictures in Portrait, but Banner Deluxe works in widescreen. The scroll bar appears as if your screen was much thinner. If you turn properly, it works fine, but when you finally pick the pic, it messes with Banner Deluxe’s appearance until you turn again. Also, you can’t take a picture with the camera, so you’ll have to do this before launching the app. You also can’t move the image around or crop it any. The image will be stretched to fit widescreen, so something to keep in mind. I say image, singular, because you can only use one. So, in the future I’d like to be able to add and delete pictures a lot like how you can add and delete apps on the iPhone instead of just having one for customization.

Obviously, there are still a lot of things that could be remedied, but I’m going to bump up the rating to 3 from my original 2 out of 5. There’s nothing that really makes this app bad, it’s just not great yet. I want to see the frame rate even higher, custom backdrops improved, and an option for custom font colors instead of textures (maybe this could improve the frame rate as well). If you want a highly customizable banner app, this is probably the one for you, but know that there could be a bunch of improvements. The developer has also temporarily lowered the price to $.99, so maybe that will entice some of you.

Appletell Rating:

Buy Banner Deluxe