QuoteDeck review

Quotations are nothing new in the literary world, but they do fit the modern desire for bite-sized wisdom and education via text message, so it’s no real wonder there’s a wealth of quote apps out there on the iPhone.

And, rather ironically, what most of these applications pursue in terms of marketing is sheer quantity of available quotes, which seems somewhat contrary to the nature of a quick and easily digestible citations.

QuoteDeck, I’m glad to say, is one of the few apps that makes an effort to provide something that goes beyond sheer volume of quotes. Admittedly that’s the core of the application, but it makes a sincere effort to categorise and clarify so you can land the wisdom you’re looking for without too much effort.

It promises over 30,000 quotes from freethinkers, philosophers and media hungry actors who believe they’ve unlocked life’s secrets by getting on the telly, and separates its insights into around 160 different topics. That might sound a bit unmanageable, and in some respects the categories list is a bit unwieldy, but with that many sound bites on offer it’s appealing to have them properly organised.

Basically that’s the top and bottom of any quotes application. You tell it your mood, it feeds you as much varied wisdom as possible. But in its continued effort to make that very limited concept into more of an entertainment experience, QuoteDeck has packed in some great presentation and even social networking, so you can spread the good word.

Once you’ve searched for a suitable quote, you can check out a few details about its originator using the built in Wikipedia browser. This is a pretty rudimentary web browser that simply feeds the author’s name into wiki’s search, but it’s a great feature that adds some significant depth to the app.

Where you’d normally skim the quote, you can now find out some of the history that led to its conception – and that’s important.

And when you’ve found that historical figure (or celebrity) that’s managed to put your feelings into so few words, you can send out those inspired words through Twitter, Facebook and by email. You’re given the option of saving favourite quotes, and a trending system keeps you abreast of the most popular and highest rated quips currently streaming through QuoteDeck.

It’s perhaps a little unlikely that you feel there’s a gap on your iPhone or iPod Touch that desperately needs a quotation application, but everyone likes a good sound bite of social satire, profound inspiration or scathing humour.

Here’s a thought to carry you aloft on warm winds of wisdom as you float toward the App Store:

“If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?” ~ Steven Wright.