Interesting: iPhone App: 2 Across

August 25th, 2008

= 3 stars

In the interest of fairness I checked out 2 Across, another crossword puzzle iPhone app. It’s cheaper than Crosswords yet promises to do the same thing — download crossword puzzles from the web and let you solve them, so you’ll always have a supply of crossword puzzles with you wherever you are.

The Good

• Totally capable crossword app. Once you figure out the conventions for navigating around the board, you can jump right in and start solving puzzles. You see the entire screen and double-tap to bring up the keyboard.
• The puzzle is easier to read at small size than with Crosswords.
• Different levels of clues, one letter, a word, or the whole grid.
• A “pencil” mode for guessing various letters.
• Nice touches like small icons for the various puzzle sources and even their masthead in the upper left corner.

The Bad

• The keyboard used is the standard iPhone keyboard, which unfortunately takes up a large portion of the screen, obscuring the puzzle. Crosswords has a custom keyboard that is smaller, which I prefer.
• You only have a vertical view. The app doesn’t rotate to horizontal view.

Conclusion

While 2 Across is a totally capable crosswords app, I prefer Crosswords since it has several more views and a smaller keyboard that personally, make it easier for me to solve puzzles. But after fiddling with 2 Across, I’d say you can’t go wrong with either app, so if you want to save a few bucks, 2 Across should suffice. But an even better idea would be to downlod the free “taster” versions of both apps (2 Across Lite, Crosswords Lite), play around with them, and then make a decision. Aren’t free iPhone apps great?

iTunes App Store Link: