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Over the last few years, there have been a slew of New York City specific apps. Many of them primarily dealt with Bus Schedules, Restaurant Guides, Parking, Sightseeing and even finding the perfect nightclub. Now suppose you could roll all of those apps into one. Add Social Networking, Wifi Maps, Video Feeds, Newsfeeds, the ability to check in at your favorite location, Sightseeing info, Shopping info, an Event Calendar, Weather, Broadway Show info, Park Events, you see where we're going with this? The boys over at Shout 'Em created a NYC app that covers just about everything except where you can buy a Kitchen Sink (and we may even be wrong about that because the app features a Shopping piece!).

Can You Say New York City?

This app from the outset appears to be the only New York City app you'll ever need. I myself am a Native New Yorker, and like the majority of New Yorkers, am almost always skeptical about anyone who claims that something can cover all bases. This app will make you Fuhgeddabout that attidude... 

The app's start up screen gives you a myriad of options by way of icons. The first such icon is titled "Sign In". You may be weary about signing up for yet "another" service, but a lot of the app's features requires that you be signed in, so you may not be able to avoid that. Nor should you. Signing up is easy and quick. You can also sign in with your existing Facebook and Twitter credentials. Nice touch :) "Sign Up" is follwed by "Wall" which functions just like its Facebook counterpart and uses the same jargon. You can update your status. "Shout" looks a lot like Twitter or a Facebook newsfeed. You can write statuses here, and read other people's updates. "Messages" allows you to message others. Then there's "Users". This is the app's Social Networking component (or if you didn't feel like this was it's own Social Network, you'd be very aware of that by this point). You can see a list of users who are online. "Check In" allows you to check into various locations, just like you would on Four Square. (With over 8 million New Yorkers, I wonder if this wil become the next big Social Network. I'd love to see a Social Network by NYC neighborhood. That would be awesome). 

You're then presented with Places, Attractions, Dining, Shopping, Nightlife, Events, Sightseeing and Weather. All which are pretty self explanatory. Following that is Broadway, Musicals, Top, NYC Map, Central Park, Park Events, HHT Events, Wifi Map. Without even going into specifics, if you were a tourist, or a Native New Yorker looking for something to do, this app would be it. It seems as if the has all bases covered. Anyone who has been to New York City will have some memory of tourists (maybe even yourself) burying their heads in maps, tourist periodicals, asking around for directions on how to get somewhere, on their phones with directory assistance, or maybe even nudging you on the shoulder inquiring about a great place to eat. If you have this app on your device, gone are those days.

Everything works under normal conditions. Since the Video Feed pulls NYC related videos from YouTube (and very relevant stuff might we add, quirky things that you would really have to search for that would be of interest to a lot of NYC enthusiasts), you will get content as quick as your connection is. Same with the Photofeed and Location based stuff. When we reviewed this, there was a bit of lag with loading of certain functions. We would like to see this developer incorporate some of the features into the core of the app (i.e maps) as it would make certain aspects of it run way faster. Those aspects could always be updated via an automatic update.

Withstanding that last piece, this app easily deserves 4 out 5 stars. If the above issue is addressed, then a solid 5 out of 5. This app will stay on my phone forever. Period. I won't have to rush to find the Village Voice to look up events. I won't have to go to Yelp to look up Restuarant reviews. This app is like Prego Spaghetti Sauce, "It's In There"! We highly recommend this app. It does what is says. The app is available for both iOS and Android. We wonder if Mayor Bloomberg would make this official NYC app? Well, the potential is definitely there!

GMA.