Review : Bento for iPhone

FileMaker Inc. is owned by Apple and it makes 2 database management systems (DBMS): professional FileMaker and consumer-oriented Bento. Here we are reviewing Bento.

All in all Bento app is very simple although it is very polished:

It is uses cover flow user interface – the same as in iTunes:

… but alternatively classic list view can be used too:

You can define your own databases with your own fields:

… including picture field (note: iPhone has no autofocus in camera so pictures of close-ups are blurry):

Fields can be deleted:

… and generally there are plenty of field types that you can use in creating your own databases:

You can also dynamically delete and edit fields, including reordering, by tapping on "Fields" button in upper right part of record view. Then this dialog appears:

Database records can be added (assigned) to collections:

… and obviously there are plenty of database templates for various purposes:

Unfortunately synchronization is possible but only with Mac computers and only if you purchase for $50 a program for Mac:

Conclusion: if you need simple nicely looking database app, for example for your home inventory, this is it! We wish it could support also Windows desktop computers for the purpose of synchronization, but if you have Mac it should work out for you. The picture taking to database fields was working quite smoothly and generally search options are also nice.