It’s hard to ignore Apple’s presence in the smartphone / tablet world – or the apps available for them. I recently picked up an iPad to replace / upgrade from a first-gen iPod Touch, and decided to take a fresh look at the apps that cover Korea. (Note – all ratings out of 5 taeguks)

First up: Daegu Tour, anyone?

Note that all screenshots were taken on my iPad; since some of these are iPhone / iPod Touch apps, the larger iPad screen can more than double the size. That pixelates the screen a bit, but it’s quite visible on either device.

Plenty of options for places to go, though I do wonder about the places they chose. Daegu Industrial Tools Alley, seriously?

Some decent directions, but not overly helpful if you’re looking for specifics.

DaeguTour is free for iPhone, iTouch, and iPad.

Rating:

***

Next: Jihachul – one of the best Seoul subway apps around.

One reason this app is the best: a simple, clever way of making clear which map you want to see. Tri-lingual and all five Korean subway systems represented.

It’s a nice note that even the unopened subway stations have names. Pinch-and-zoom works well, too.

Routing works perfectly, down to the minutes and stations.

Jihachul has stayed up-to-date, remains free, and is completely usable on any platform. What more can you ask for?

Jihachul is free for iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. Get the iPad version or the iPhone version.

Rating:

***

Next up is Jihachul’s biggest competitor: Explore Seoul Subway map:

A clean interface, although pinch-and-zoom is missing. Note the street map button in the upper-left corner, which takes you to Google Maps for the location in question. The light bulb brings up the options and FAQ – which curiously requires the internet to see a FAQ.

Again, routing works perfectly.

Searching for a station works perfectly. Another curiosity: typing in Korean brings back search results in English. Both Korean and English is available from the lightbulb icon, although only one language is on the screen at any given time.

Explore Seoul Subway is $1.99 and is available for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad.

Rating:

***

Next up: the Fotopedia of North Korea:

Aside from the issue of needing Wi-Fi to access the collection, these photos are spectacular courtesy of Eric Lafforgue.  Although under tight supervision, the shots couldn’t be much better if given free rein.

The collection of 1,300+ photos and slideshows are wonderful – in fact, the only reason this doesn’t give a perfect score is the Wi-Fi requirement (not always easy to find). I do also wish there was a bit more specific context for the pictures – the italicized ‘i‘ leads to some Wikipedia articles, but not much else.

Rating:

***

Next up: the appropriately-named Seoul Travel Mate:

Instead of simply displaying a map and letting the user go from there, this app makes it more explicit. The ‘Find Route’ only works after you’ve picked the departure and arrival; the subway map works well, while the station map

Routing works fine here, as well.

There’s not much else to see here – the language options are hidden in the settings menu, and there is curiously a Cafe Map, which apparently includes Burger King, Popeyes, and KFC. Google Maps offers these addresses up as pins on the map.

Seoul Travel Mate is free for the iPad, iPhone, and the iPod.

Rating:

***

A rather curious addition: subwaytravelseoul:

Despite the odd angle and the non-rotating nature, the map works fine enough.

Hit the travel tab at the bottom to pull up a rather small list of popular tourist attractions around Seoul.

Honestly? Meh – it works, but there are other options above.

Subway Travel Seoul is free for the iPad, iPhone, and the iPod Touch.

Rating:

***

One more Seoul app to throw at you: Seoul Tour Map Lite:

The point here isn’t to throw lots of copy or photos at you, it’s to pinpoint the location in question on Google Maps. This only works, of course, if you’re on WiFi. There’s nothing else here – the only difference between this and the stock Google Maps app are the points on the map.

Seoul Tour Map Lite is free on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Rating:

Full disclosure: Chris in South Korea received a free copy of the Explore Seoul Subway app.

© Chris Backe – 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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