The iPhone comes with a decent calculator app that gets the job done for most people. That has never stopped me from looking to the App Store for a more beautiful replacement. PCalc and Soulver have been popular for power users. I’d been happily using Calcbot until Rechner came along, but then I was completely blown away by Llumino.
Llumino is a new kind of calculator with a strong emphasis on fluid animations. Right from the get go, you see the strong Metro influence within the app. The button layout is similar to any other calculator app and there is a zipper above the main calculator along with a settings gear. The zipper can be unzipped or pulled down to reveal your calculation history which supports up to 100 calculations. The settings screen lets you change the effect and theme for button press. When you tap a button in the app you will immediately notice a coloured animation that ripples outward from the button pressed. The colour depends on the theme. You can even choose the animation with which buttons are lit up after you press them. Creating your own theme is a lovely experience. You need to pick 2 colours for a theme and the colour picker reminds me of the Stack Overflow logo. Themes can be renamed and mixing themes with animation effects is fun. Each effect has a live preview and the thing you will notice first is the lack of sounds within the app. The animations don’t just stop there. The actual displaying of numbers has been very well with them sliding in from the right with commas appearing from the bottom. Clearing the current calculation has the numbers go away like a page in a book being turned. Llumino supports up to 10 digits at a time. Copying and pasting calculations is also supporting by tapping the calculation in question.
If you love unique animations that can be customized and need a calculator app, Llumino is worth getting. Even the icon makes the official calculator app icon look like something from Gingerbread. I hope sounds are added because from the looks of the app, it feels incomplete without sounds to me. Llumino is available on the App Store for $1.99.