Spoonfed review

Frances Edwards

We review Spoonfed, a London entertanment guide for the Apple iPhone

Published on Sep 4, 2009

In this age of netbooks, smartphones and mobile broadband it seems we have ever decreasing amounts of time for our own social engagements. And besides, when we do manage to grab a free evening how do you find what is on and where do you start?

Hoping to answer a few of these queries is Spoonfed, the latest in a long line of London entertainment guides aimed at helping you sort the wheat from the chaff. Like most iPhone apps these days, Spoonfed originates from an online website and what we have here is an attempt to make everything more pocket friendly without severe compromise.

Main search categories are listed as Live Music, Theatre, DJ Music, Comedy, Exhibitions and 'Beery Fun'. This does seem a little limited (Markets, Festivals, Promotions, etc would be nice) but events do appear largely up to date based on independent digging. Results are also reasonably well detailed with descriptions, map directions, phone numbers and pricing but sadly the flaws of the app are rather more fundamental.

At the core of Spoonfed's difficulties is the essence of the app itself. The company asks "Want to know what's on around you now?" to which I suspect many would reply: "No, not really". You see, searching for an evenings entertainment doesn't always have to be right on our doorstep. London dwellers have these things called cars, buses, tubes and trains and everything is pretty close together anyway.

Consequently, Spoonfed feels unnecessarily limited. After all, it lists social events all over London so why is there no ability to search by postcode? Spoonfed does let you search the full content of all its categories but trawling through each is a little tedious compared to saying: "Tell me what is on in x, y or z". Design is also a little garish while there's a lack of thought put into basic integration. For example, asking for directions to be shown in Google Maps these days should no longer mean being forced to exit the app completely or it losing your search results when you restart it.

Ultimately, Spoonfed is handy enough to warrant downloading - especially since it is free. Sadly however this good idea has been poorly executed.