QI

QI Review

by on March 10, 2011

If you stand unswayed by the physics-based charms of iPhone gaming, the official QI app might just be the time-killing alternative for you.

There’s a huge amount of suitably esoteric knowledge in this app, harvested from the various QI books that have spun off the quiz programme. Where else would you read that Raccoon tastes excellent roasted and stuffed with sweet potato? Or that the Raccoon’s man-bits contain bones which people in Texas carry around for good luck? Exactly.

Factoids are divided in the app into a virtual bookshelf, which separates knowledge by category. So, for example, if you’re in the market for some Quite Interesting beetle facts, you flick along the shelf until you find the volume titled “It’s A Bug’s Life” and tap it to open the menu of all the app’s related insect knowledge. Depending on the book, categories are divided up either into general headings (“Ant”, “Beetle”, “Cicada” etc.) or QI quiz style questions (“What do you get if you suck a pencil?” Answer: not lead poisioning).

If it’s a specific fact or a specific subject matter you’re after there’s also a search function, but the real pleasure is just in browsing and having every mad tidbit of information you ever heard flipped over one by one by the QI writers (who do a solid job of writing in the style of Quizmaster Stephen Fry).

With the books going for upwards of a fiver each on Amazon, the QI app is a bargain at just £2.39. A keeper.

Download this app: QI for iPhone

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