Fancy

Summary

Today the name of the game is discovery: who doesn't like to discover new tunes, new trends, new gadgets...? Oh, and how do you feel about discovering (expensive) new places and things? Read on to find out more about Fancy, the application for 'curators of style'.

Right off the bat Fancy strikes me as a congolomerate of StumbleUpon, Tumblr, a social network and shopping experience.
 
The UI is kept nice and neat, featuring a series of photos and captions. The idea behind this little app is that users share whatever gems they've discovered on the digital market with the rest of the community. Kind of like a deal portal that features aesthetically interesting and design-wise excellent products.

If you're the type of user who enjoys browsing I predict you could get a kick out of Fancy. And if you love beautiful and exclusive objects – be it fashion, cars, electronic items, etc. - then Fancy might really tickle your fancy, if you'll pardon the rather obvious play on words.

The app looks very much like a desktop wesbite. Every image comes with an option to share the excitement about whatever object is displayed, add said item to your own personal list or simply comment on it. A detailed overview as well as where-to-purchase details are provided, and you can peruse through other users' comments. There is also an option for sharing, though Google+ as well as read-it-later type products such as Pocket, Instapaper or Readability are missing.

There's a shuffle mode if you're in the mood for surprises as well as a navigation tool that provides details on purchased items, shopping cart options and search options by category, amongst a few other features.

Keep in mind that this service relies on a sort of social network, meaning you have to register via Facebook, Twitter or email.

A few drawbacks: it takes a while for images to load (especially for anything lower than 2G), and a lot of products are not available outside of USA or else come with high tollage.

Bottom line:

Fancy is fun and interesting in a posher-than-thou kind of way. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether this type of consumer driven application is their cup of tea. I would say that if you love design or are interested in recent trends, Fancy is worth looking into even if you're not much a Natural Born Shopper. If you're curious go ahead and try it out for yourself to see if you like it, it can be downloaded for free after all.

Fancy is beautifully optimised for tablets. Admittedly, both the smartphone and tablet Android versions of the app are very close to their iOS counterparts.

Fancy is simple and straight forward and hence easy to use, but seeing as the app hasn't been properly adapted for the Android system it feels very much as though the app were running on an iPhone or iPad.

Fancy does very well in this category: no lagging, no crashing and only a few moments hesitation here and there.

Fancy is available for free from the Play Store and doesn't feature ad banners.