After firing it up, I was asked to key in my visit dates and where I was staying.  For each of the hotels there was a brief description and a space for reviews.

I was then presented with the option to ‘Create your trip’ and I pressed the ‘mTrip Genius’ button. I like things that say ‘genius’ – it’s about time the Internet and apps got clever with me.

I was then given a list of preferences (see screen shot) along with a ‘Visit Intensity’ slider and the option to go with ‘Top Attractions’ or ‘Alternative Attractions’.  I hit ‘launch’ and after a few seconds was presented with a list of things to do for each morning and afternoon I would be in Singapore.

My Saturday morning had five stops.  Apparently I would be walking between each of these. I might be up for that but some people might not especially in 90% humidity. I couldn’t find where I could change this.

Selecting any of the attractions in the list gave me (for each) an ‘overview’ tab, a ‘details’ tab (opening hours etc with the option to submit updates – simple, but there’s nothing better than getting the crowd to keep things up to date) and a ‘reviews’ tab. 

At the bottom of the screen I could add the attraction to my favorites, remove it from my itinerary and even send it as a ‘postcard’.  The postcard functionality was pretty cool giving me the option to send a pre-loaded picture (or my own snap) of the attraction to Facebook or as an email with, importantly, the opportunity for me to save it for sending later when I had connectivity.

The app has an overall ‘guide’ section with lists of general attractions, restaurants etc. Selecting any of the individual attractions takes you to the three-tab screen as described above. There is the option to get the route from your current location to the attraction. At this point the application told me there was no transport from where I’m writing this to Singapore Zoo, which can’t be right.  It worked when I selected Orchard road but the direction information was a bit clunky.

The map functionality is ok but, again, like the directions functionality that involved the map, it felt slightly clunky.  The Map can also be used in ‘Augmented Reality’ mode. 

This looked like the other Augmented reality stuff out there – Layar etc.  I am fascinated by the opportunities this technology presents but yet to be convinced.  I’ve only used Layar on my iPhone a couple of times but, as an eager visitor, standing in the middle of a new city it could actually be quite compelling.  In ‘augmented’ mode, from where I am now writing this, according to the mTrip app, there are no attractions within a kilometer. I must fire it up when I am next downtown.

There is some search functionality in the app and, very usefully, a currency converter that was showing a ‘last update’ date of six weeks ago that I didn’t understand. The ‘subway’ Map is bordering on the useless. This is, perhaps, an example of something where more focus could have been given rather than concentrating on the potentially sexier technology-driven aspects such as the augmented reality browsing.

Overall, I quite liked it.  There’s a lot of useful information and the app goes a long way to facilitate review sharing as well as collating updates from the crowd.

I think the itinerary planning in ‘Genius’ mode is ambitious.  I know, for example, that a morning spent at both East Coast Park and at the Zoo (which the app suggested) is not something I’d recommend to anyone.  And I would be very wary of suggesting an itinerary in Singapore with 45-minute walks between attractions.

It does have a lot of what you would want all right there in one app even if the Subway map is a bit useless and some of the functionality around the map and directions, a bit clunky.

But the app and, therefore, I’m guessing its developers seem open to what the ‘crowd’ can offer so, with similar feedback from other users and some updates, the future could be bright for this little potential gem.