How Modality Inc sticks you in the...


This will be my take on 3 apps from the Modality Inc factory of junk: Rohen's Photographic Anatomy Flash Cards, Clemente's Anatomy Flash Cards and Moore's Clinical Anatomy Flash Cards.

Disclaimer: I can only talk about Rohen's cards and Netter's Flash Cards, but since the previews (on the maker website/iTunes app store) are similar and the maker is one and the same, I will assume homogeneity between the three apps.

It is outraging to me how unbelievably unprofessional Modality had become. At the hefty price of 24.99 - a third of the cost of the FULL textbook (Moore, Clemente, Rohen or even Netter) - you get about 5% content of the physical volumes. With blatant mistakes. Conducive to learning, as my teachers would put it. My gripes:

- Mislabeled structures. Ex: Mislabeled penile urethra and corpus cavernosum. What if I wanted to learn ahead and would actually memorize this?
- Lack of structures: Whereas Rohen the book (which I own) has on average 20-40 labels per diagram, this piece of app has 2-3. The images are often 40-70% of the complete image in the hard-copy - this makes it sometimes very hard to figure out where you are, since you are missing key landmarks (a testimony that the program was created by programmers, not medical professionals). I have a good feeling that had they put the full image, we would be able to figure out a way to navigate it with the iPhone gestures. For that price I would appreciate to have at least 10-12 labels. Remember: this is not a 5$ app.
- Lack of details: no information on the structures at the 'back of the card'
- No landscape, really??!!

Conclusion: The trio of apps from Modality Inc. is not worth your money. It will not save you time by making your heavy books portable, rather it will give you an illusion of knowledge. I can only recommend the Netter's Flash cards, which were produced - at least so it feels - by a completely different team, in the times when apps were not mass-stamped to reach economies of scale, but created to advance knowledge and produce more qualified med students.

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1 comments:

Modality, Inc. said...

Hi Premedc,

I'm not sure if you saw our response to the same comment you made on iMedicalApps.com, but thank you for your comments. We plan to release an update of the Rohen's app, which will be available free of charge to existing users.

In your point about the copy of Rohen which you own, with an average of 20-40 labels per diagram, by any chance are you referring to the Rohen's Color Atlas of Anatomy? If so, that could explain some of your frustration--our application is based on the Rohen's Photographic Anatomy Flash Cards, as is indicated by the title and product description of the application in the App Store.

You are correct about price-- these apps are priced higher than the average App Store app. However, you will find that these prices often are competitive with their print or online counterparts. Many customers report purchasing our apps because they get significantly more features, convenience, and learning benefit than they would from the print or online products, for about the same cost (you may have even noticed that our Rohen's, Moore's and Clemente's anatomy applications are priced about $15 less than the print versions of the products, as an introductory offer to new users).

We recognize that App Store customers have very different expectations regarding price, compared to individuals in the market for a conventional print product. We'd love to hear your thoughts on what a good study app is worth. Much of the input we get on pricing and value is shared with the entire team at Modality, from the CEO down, and it's important to us to understand what content and features are most valuable to users like you.

Again, thank you for your candid comments, and please don't hesitate to contact us directly anytime with questions or feedback: info@modality.com

Best,

Deirdre
Modality, Inc.

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