Hijinks Reviews: MPG

Pros: Practical application with an easy to use interface.

Cons: Lacking in the features department right now. We’re looking forward to 1.1.

Developer: Catamount Software (www.catamount.com)

Version Reviewed: 1.0.3

Platform: iPhone and iPod Touch

If you have a drivers license, you’re probably painfully aware of the price you pay every time you fill up your tank. Catamount Software can’t solve the world’s energy crisis, but they at least offer a way to keep track of it all. MPG is an app that allows you to keep track of your fuel and service expense for multiple vehicles. True to its name it keeps track of your miles per gallon and updates the number every time you fill up. More after the jump.

MPG is really just a digital notepad with helpful categories right now. Enter in the amount you paid for fuel and the price per gallon, and the number of gallons you put in automatically fills in. Thats right, this program does math. Naturally, you can leave any one of these three factors out and the program will calculate them for you. Its not all that groundbreaking of a concept, but its nice to see that the developers tried to make a program that actually did something and not just a fancy version of that little calender you were using to record your milage before.

You can set up multiple vehicles to keep track of–you can even upload a picture of your car if you are really motivated. The option to enter my VIN and license plate number first made me a little paranoid, but when I realized all that was relatively public information anyway I figured it’d be good to have it in a place I might actually look if I needed that information away from my car.

MPG isn’t anything fancy right now, but I really like it purely because now I have something to record my milage that I actually remember to take to the car with me. I hope the promised features in 1.1 actually do come in the near future. I have a sneaking suspicious that 1.1 might bring a price model to the program, but I could be wrong.

Bottom line: It does what its supposed to do, and that is it. If thats all you need, its a must have!