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iBird UK & Ireland Guide to Birds 6.0
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Birds of Britain & Ireland (Pro Edition) 1.05
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Bird Guide Britain – A Field Guide to British Birds 2.0.2
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Birds of Britain 2.7
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RSPB e-Guide to British birds 1.0
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IMPORTANT STUFF
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iBird |
BirdGuides |
iSpiny |
CleverMatrix |
Cool Ideas LLC |
Developer/Publisher |
Mitch Waite Group |
BirdGuides Ltd. |
iSpiny |
CleverMatrix Ltd. |
MyDigitalEarth.com |
Latest App Update |
Jul 14, 2012 |
Jul 23, 2012 |
Feb 16, 2012 |
Jun 22, 2012 |
Mar 15, 2012 |
Universal App? (works on iPad in full screen mode) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Number of updates to date |
5 (6.0, 5.1, 5.0, 4.0, 3.2) |
5 (1.0.5, 1.0.4, 1.0.3, 1.0.2, 1.0.1) |
13 (2.0.2, 2.0.1, 2.0.0, 1.1.1, 1.1.0, 1.0.9, 1.0.8, 1.0.7, 1.0.6, 1.0.5, 1.0.4, 1.0.3, 1.0.1, 1.0.0) |
17 (2.7, 2.6, 2.5, 2.4, 2.3, 2.2, 2.1, 2.0, 1.9, 1.8, 1.7, 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.0) |
1 (1.0) |
Number of species |
283 |
271 |
293 |
268 |
290 |
MAJOR INCLUSIONS
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iBird |
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Cool Ideas LLC |
Geographical range |
UK & Ireland |
UK & Ireland |
UK (a) |
UK |
UK & Ireland |
Includes Drawings? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Includes Photos? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Includes Drawings and Photos? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Includes Search Engine? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Size of database |
270 MB |
237 MB |
254 MB |
349 MB |
184 MB |
Original Launch date |
Mar 31, 2011 |
Jan 14, 2010 |
Mar 11, 2010 |
Sep 09, 2010 |
Mar 15, 2012 |
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
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iBird |
BirdGuides |
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CleverMatrix |
Cool Ideas LLC |
App store Stars (all versions) |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
insufficient data |
insufficient data |
★ ★ ★ ★ |
★ ★ ★ ★ |
No. of Ratings (all versions) |
15 |
insufficient data |
insufficient data |
240 |
7 |
IDENTIFICATION BENEFITS
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iBird |
BirdGuides |
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CleverMatrix |
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Automatically shrinks list while typing bird name |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Search engine? |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Number of searchable attributes |
31 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
Taxonomic search? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Euring Code search? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Latin name search? |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
SEARCH ENGINE FEATURES
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Search by: |
|
|
|
|
Shape |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Size |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Postal Code |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Location |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Region |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Habitat |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Primary color |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Secondary color |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Backyard feeder |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Family |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Order |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Length, weight, wingspan |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Search by song and song pattern? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Leg color |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Tail shape |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Wing shape |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Flight pattern |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Bill shape and length |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Pattern related: Head, breast, belly and back pattern |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Head related Crown, forehead, cere, throat, nape, eye color |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
ARTWORK, PHOTOS & SONGS
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Multiple photos per species? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (b) |
Yes |
No |
Multiple illustrations per species? |
No (c) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Multiple songs per species? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Zoomable Images? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Zoom range |
200% |
400% |
150% |
0% |
0% |
Slideshow Feature? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
AUDIO FEATURES
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Animated Waveform? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Animated Spectrogram? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
IDENTIFICATION AIDS
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Range maps? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Similar birds? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Similar song links? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Conservation details? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Family descriptions? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Flickr? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Wikipedia? |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Interesting/Cool Facts |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Depth of database |
High |
Low |
Medium |
Low |
Low |
MISCELLANEOUS
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iBird |
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iSpiny |
CleverMatrix |
Cool Ideas LLC |
Gallery |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Favorites/checklist |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Species notes/life list |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Online or iTunes backup |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Embedded help |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
NAVIGATION
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Sequence pages |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Sequence images |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Sequence range maps |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Sequence songs |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Sequence everything |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
PERFORMANCE
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iBird |
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Cool Ideas LLC |
Responsiveness (1) |
Excellent |
Good |
Fair |
Good |
Fast |
Page Refresh |
Very Fast |
Quick |
Poor |
Typical |
Good |
Lookup Speed |
Very Fast |
Quick |
Typical |
Very Fast |
Very Fast |
Startup Time |
Quick |
Typical |
Very Slow |
Very Fast |
Very Fast |
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
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iBird |
BirdGuides |
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CleverMatrix |
Cool Ideas LLC |
Strengths |
Search engine, zoomable images, large amount of data per species, has both photos and drawings. |
Large number of illustrations and photos per species. |
Many illustrations per species. “Random Birds” browse feature, email backup of notes. |
Low cost. |
Deals with most species recorded in GB. Multiple illustartions showing differing plumages and flight features. Based on the RSPB Book of Birds with the added calls (similar to the Sibley Guide). |
Weakness |
Needs more female and juvenile illustrations, needs improved life list features. |
No search engine, no notes or lists. Difficult to navigate. Illustrations, photos, range map, sounds and descriptions all in one stack. |
Inconsistent amount of data for each species and difficult to navigate. |
Shallow database. Only British bird app with non-zoomable images. Pre-populated Favorites list cannot be edited. |
No photos. Non-zoomable images or maps. |
NOTES
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|
(c) Artists are working on iBird illustrations all the time.
Needs possible adding key ID features to the illustrtions like the Peterson fieldguides did. |
There is an add-on in the settings where the other app they do on Birds of Northern Europe can be added to this one for a cost of £2.49 and this adds many more species and a choice of languages and adding N Europe ranges on extra maps.
Many of the illustraions have good field ID and are labelled. Most come from the Concise Birds of the Western Palearctic books which is the ‘bible’ of European birding! |
(a) Range Maps include all of Europe.
(b) Some species have multiple photos, but not many.
This app has a ‘key’ feature which when pressed shows the main ID features of the species. Very good idea and less confusing than reading text. Good Peterson Fieldguide technique.
Redpolls not up to date with current taxonomy but show Marsh Tit/Willow Tit feature which I described in an email last year
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Seems to be heavily RSPB bias as it has a section on most RSPB reserves in the locations data. |
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