Tired of poorly designed money tracking applications like Quicken which are a pain to work with, and always have you cringing at the thought of sitting down and getting your finances sorted?
Cha-Ching changed my whole attitude towards tracking cash-flow and now even has me wanting to get sorted. How could one application have such a large impact on me? Answer: An intelligent, well thought out, fun application UI. Cha-Ching is not loaded with features (…yet), but what it lacks in that aspect it makes up in sheer UI brilliance.
To be totally honest, I dont really need to track my finances. Sure, having them sorted and tracked help’s in the long run, but it’s not a necessity. But Cha-Ching is such a well built application it’s making me want to track my finances, just to play with it’s cool UI! Let’s take a look at what it has to offer.
After you open the application, press the little + button in the sidebar to create a new drawer, or account. After naming this, in the main window press the + button to create a new item. No confusing actions required to get it working, it’s as simple as 1,2,3 (clicks that is).
After entering the details of the transaction, you can add a photo using Cha-Ching’s awesome in built Photo Booth type window.
When adding a new transaction you have the option of adding an image to accompany it. Hit the green “Photos” button in the details window, and you are presented with a tidy photo window where you have the option of adding an existing image on your HDD, or taking a photo with your iSight camera. Perfect for items like magazines, games, and movies among others.
After you press the confirm button to lock in a transaction, the balance at the bottom of your screen will go into debt, showing exactly how much money you have, or dont have to spend.
Does Cha-Ching kill Quicken? In my eyes it does, but that will vary on a person to person basis. Cha-Ching has everything I need in a financial application, and it should have everything you need if you’re more of an advanced user by version 1 or 2. Remember, this is still Beta software, it’s currently only into version 0.2, so it does have some minor bugs as expected.
My verdict, a solid effort, this application has real potential to raise to greatness and hopefully an Apple Design Award at next years WWDC 07. I bought it for the Beta stage special of $14.95, I think you should consider it too.
So, what do you like about Cha-Ching? Do you feel in the coming months it could pull off a miracle and bury Quicken in the dust. Leave me your views below in the comments section.
If you haven’t already, get your copy of Cha-Ching here.
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