Features:  

This latest version features:

• 45 total sounds
• Timer
• Volume slider on the front page for touch users

Customizable options include:

• Alarm after the timer
• Volume fading out during or after shutoff timer countdown
• Quitting the app after the timer runs out
• Defining the sounds to be displayed on the front page
• Deleting unused sounds to trim the app’s file size.

One of the nicest features of this current release is the ability for the user to delete unwanted sounds. The complete app’s file size is beefy and the power to trim it down by removing unused sounds is a good idea.

The ambient sounds include:

• Airplane
• Birds
• Blue noise
• Brown noise
• Cat Purr
• Cicada
• Clock
• City
• Coast
• Creek
• Crickets
• Fan
• Fan-Oscillating
• Fire-Big
• Fire-Small
• Freeway
• Frog
• Heartbeat
• Heartbeat—Slow
• Light Saber
• Machine
• Owl
• Pink noise
• Rain-Car
• Rain-Light
• Rain-Porch
• Rain-Thunder
• Rain-Tin roof
• Rain-Wind
• River
• Sailboat
• Shower
• Stream
• Sonar
• Subway
• Swamp
• Train
• Vinyl
• Violet noise
• Waterfall
• Waves
• Whales
• White noise
• Wind
• Wing-Haunting

Some of the loops are too short making it obvious where the loop starts and ends and not all are stereo sound quality. It would be valuable to be able to create a playlist of sounds that are controlled by the timer so that each sound would play for a specified time before going on to the next one.

Interface:  

Ambiance has a simple interface of four views. The main page contains the sound selection wheel. The basic “i” page has the volume and timer controls. The “Advanced” page accesses the customization options and the “Other” button takes you to a brief note from the developer.

Graphics:  

Ambiance is intentionally not graphic-intensive but the images it does use are attractive and user-friendly.

Stability:  

The app ran smoothly and without crashing throughout the testing period. The developer has noted, on his web site, that large apps can sometimes be affected by other apps causing the larger one to crash. He has provided tips for the user in case you experience a problem.

Support:  

The developer’s web site is simple, only one page and no interactivity. Contacting the developer with feature and sound requests or questions is done solely through email. He has developed a FAQs page and is very responsive to questions and suggestions.

Value:  

At $.99, the Ambiance app is a good value compared to a standalone ambient sound machine and the promised addition of more features will make the program much more desirable.

Ambiance is more than just a noisemaker; its selection of sounds and easy interface aid concentration and relaxation by blocking the noise in your immediate surroundings. In short, this app is a simple ambient noise machine. The recorded sounds need to be a bit longer although it’s a fine line to walk between selection, quality and memory requirements. Adding longer or higher-quality sounds would increase the physical size of the app, eating into the available memory of the iPhone or iPod touch. Overall, it is a worthy addition to any iPhone or iPod touch.

Check out our iPhone 3G review, music and movie download reviews as well as our other App reviews to help you get the most out of your iPhone.