Dishpal review

DishPal is a new entry to the genre of foodie social networking iPhone apps. It combines the vibe and visual presence of Pinterest with the brevity of Twitter. If you are looking for detailed recipes complete with precise instructions, you’re not going to find them here. What Dishpal’s iPhone app brings to the AppStore is a way to share your food finds quickly and easily.

The DishPal iPhone app opens with great pop-up instructions to introduce you to the features. The graphics are fun and definitely have a silly, yet sophisticated energy. It’s a reflection of the light, airy accessibility of this app. You don’t have to wax on about the perfect Himalayan salt. You just shoot your photo, add a few tags, and write a description. Or, hey, no description at all. It’s your choice. Tags do, of course, enhance the searchability, like type of dish, spicy, salty, sweet, hot, country of origin, etc. Each tag has a cute graphic–adding a bit more punch to the DishPal iPhone app experience.

One of the tremendous features is the functionality of the home page. Each dish is presented as a photo. As you scroll down, a line of photos load. With image-based iPhone apps, the load time can be long. This is a feature other developers will be gobbling up to enhance the functionality of other photography-heavy iPhone and iPad apps.

DishPal has the excellent addition of mobile potluck parties and magazines. The mobile potluck parties are themes a user can start to share a party idea or seek suggestions. This is a fun resource for your next dinner party. There are some extremely interesting ideas, and the global reach of the DishPal iPhone app brings an international perspective to your menu planning. The magazine function is your opportunity to create your own “best of” or “eat before I die” lists a la mashable.com and every Facebook application invented.

With one touch, you can share your DishPal discoveries via Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. You can connect with your existing social networks with ease. Also, you can expand your social network to include the neat, dynamic foodie community within DishPal. The superb, intuitive process of creating your profile can be completed in a flash.

The DishPal iPhone app is a fun experience and definitely has a lighter touch than Foodily, another popular social networking iPhone app for foodies. DishPal could be maximized by restaurants and chefs presenting their dishes and menus to drive business, as so many businesses are flocking to Pinterest for the same reason. DishPal’s iPhone app is a great blend of foodie and fun.