Handoff Your Browser To Your iPhone or iPad! Plus A Chance To Win A Copy!
Handoff ($1.99) by IdeaSwarm is an app to help you take snippets of information from your desktop web browser and take it along with you on your iPhone or iPad.
I'm pretty sure that everyone has come across this situation every now and then - you just found some information on your computer that you've been needing, but you've got to go somewhere, or do something else that's more urgent. You need the information but all you have is your computer and an iPhone or iPad. No time to jot down the information? Or perhaps you'd rather just take it along with you anyways? Handoff lets you achieve that by simply pushing the data from your web browser straight to your iDevice.
Handoff requires you to create an account, but this way all of your snippets are stored in the cloud. Then you'll have to install a bookmarklet or extension on your browser of choice, including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
When you have your account set up, bookmarklet or extension installed, it's time to put the Handoff to work. You can push entire web pages to your iDevice, or even stuff like phone numbers, email address, links, maps, and more. To get stuff like a simple phone number or email, you just have to select the text before handing it off to your iDevice.
When you hand off something, you're connecting to the web service to send a push notification to your device. Once you get the notification, you can view the pushed information right in Handoff. Web pages can be viewed fully, with an option to hide the bottom toolbar. Phone numbers will allow you to dial the number straight from the app, email links will take you directly to Compose Message in Mail.app, and maps can be viewed in the in-app browser with full functionality.
Every item that you push to Handoff also has several other options for the user to use. The "Share" button at the bottom gives you plenty of sharing options that are divided into three sections. The first section is Actions, where you can Copy, Email, Open in Safari, and Send Text Message containing the information or link. The next section is Services, and that includes the following: Delicious, Facebook, Google Reader, Instapaper, Pinboard, Read It Later, Tumblr, and Twitter. Simply log in with your credentials for the selected service and the information will be shared.
With the latest update, Handoff can now share with other apps on your device. Pastebot gets a section in the Share menu all for itself, but if you have something like Articles installed, you can send a Wikipedia article straight to the app. Maps can be opened in Google Maps, YouTube videos can be opened in the default YouTube app, and you can even open Twitter pages with the native Twitter app.
If you have something that you no longer want to keep around, you can edit the list and delete those unwanted items. It all syncs back with your Handoff account in the cloud, so you can see the changes reflected in the web.
The interface is minimalistic yet beautiful. I found the buttons for stuff like phone numbers to be visually appealing as well as useful. It's all optimized for Retina Display on the iPhone 4 as well. It's intuitive and easy-to-use - no complicated learning curve! Just set up an account, install the bookmarklet/extension, and you're ready to beam stuff directly to your iDevice. It's also a universal app, so it's ready for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
Handoff is great if you find yourself getting information down from web sites often. However, if you're just looking for something for URLs only, there may be other options out there. But those that want the whole package, then Handoff is it.
GIVEAWAY: I have two codes for Handoff to give away to some lucky readers! For a chance of winning a copy, simply leave a comment on this post of how you will use Handoff. I'll pick the winners on Saturday, April 16, at 9 PM PST. Good luck!
