A review of the new iPhone app from comedian Robert Kelly.
Comedian Robert Kelly
Robert Kelly is a stand-up comedian from Boston who has been touring for the past decade with other comedians like Dane Cook and Louis CK. He is also a regular guest on The Opie and Anthony Show and has appeared in small roles in a few TV shows and movies. This bald comic delivers his profanity-laced humor in a distinctive Boston accent that helps make his performances more memorable. Learn more about what he has to offer in this Robert Kelly iPhone app review.
Note: Because of adult language and content, you must be 17 or older to purchase this app from the iTunes app store.
Features (2 out of 5)
This app is mainly for die-hard fans of the comedian. Otherwise, you may not get too much out of it. What put me off about the whole package is that everything found within this app is what you’d normally find for free on a person’s website or Facebook profile. There are fan photos, videos from radio show appearances, a sound board with audio clips from his comedy, a couple of cartoons, tour dates with an interactive Google map, and podcasts . The podcasts from his radio shows seem to be the main feature as they form the bulk of the content.
Given the amount of content provided, this sort of thing should be free as a promotional item, but charging 99 cents for a collection of content that is typically found for free on a website seems kind of dumb. It doesn’t include any games or interactive content other than the Google map . Otherwise, you just push a button to watch a video, listen to a recording, or see a photo. There really is no point to making an app for this kind of content, especially since the intended audience will already have web access from their iPhone.
Interface (3 out of 5)
This app is made to look like a website. I looked up Kelly’s official site (www.robertkellylive.com ) and it is ‘under construction’ and not a lot of content is in place. I guess he’s expecting fans to spend 99 cents to get this app instead. At the top of the main app screen is a link for live updates that feature photos and video. The rest of the menu items are down the right side of the screen and outlined in red. Navigation is quite simple and I didn’t notice any easter eggs.
Performance (2 out of 5)
I encountered several pieces of content in this app that did not work. For example, under the ‘Live Updates’ section there are what look like the sort of thing you’d see as Facebook status updates. When I went to play one called ‘nose hair removal’, I get an error saying the movie could not be played. Another one called ‘Scottish Danny’ did the same thing.
There are a bunch of photos included and they loaded just fine. The five videos found within the Media section of the app all worked just fine, and they played in Quicktime . It takes a few seconds to load each video before they start to play, but the image quality is very good. Besides some of the missing content, everything else in this app worked well and opened quickly.
Overall Value (2 out of 5)
Ultimately, I was not too impressed with the Robert Kelly iPhone app. The fact that some of the included content didn’t even work is reason enough for me not to recommend this app. If Kelly wants to attract new fans, he’s not going to do it charging 99 cents for an app full of content that ought to be on his website for free.
Robert Kelly iPhone app @ iTunes - [Download link ]
References
- Screenshots courtesy of iTunes
- Wikipedia, Robert Kelly (comedian) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert _Kelly_%28comedian%29
- Robert Kelly Website - https://www.robertkellylive.com
