Review: Egg Boiler for iPad

I mentioned a few posts back that I was going to review some apps for helping out in the kitchen. This is the first post in that series and I’m going to review an iPad app called “Egg Boiler for iPad”. Egg Boiler for iPad is a very simple application that is intended to help you figure out how to boil the perfect egg.

The Egg Boiler interface is very straightforward and very cute. I say cute because it’s really kitschy. Looking very much like it came from the fifties it tells you to choose just three things to get started: Select consistency, Egg temperature and finally “Push the Pot!” to process your request.

Pretty simple right? Well to me not so much. Select consistency made sense.. Hard, Medium or Soft. Egg Temperature… that one was a little more confusing to me. I want the egg to be cooked… so Room Temperature didn’t make much sense and From Fridge didn’t really even make sense to me. It took me a time or two to realize they’re asking what is the temperature of the egg you’re going to cook. Once I thought it through it made sense but it didn’t at first. My other major complaint about the interface is that once you touch the consistency or the temperature there is no visual indication of what you selected. Not a show stopper but I feel that the re-wording of the the options and maybe a highlighting of what you chose could have gone a long way to making it easier to use.

Once you’ve made your selections and “Push the pot!” you’re taken to the second screen in the app, the cooking screen:

This screen I like much more. It gives you sort of “Post-it” style notes on how to boil an egg, a very large “chalkboard” area with the time it will take to cook your egg that is a count down timer, a reminder of what you chose and an alarm that makes a lot of noise when it’s complete, and I do mean a lot of scary, you won’t miss it noise. Very simple and well done. All in all the interface is just okay. I’d like some more clear description of what each step meant and also maybe a “quantity” selection as I very rarely ever cook ONE egg at a time.

That being said, I tried to cook a hard boiled egg using Egg Boiler for the iPad and it did indeed help me make a perfect hard boiled egg. Once I sorted through the interface, it was easy and fun to use, however, I don’t think I’d use it on a regular basis. I can’t see pulling out my iPad to just boil an egg. In addition to that fact, the application carries a price tag of $0.99 US which just seems pricey for an app I don’t think I’d use much.

To that end, I think I’ll give it a 3 pan rating. What do you think? Have you tried this app? Would you? Leave me some feedback!

Egg Boiler for the iPad
by Kyddgroup
Available in the iTunes Store. [Link]