By Daniel B. Kline
Boston.com staff

Reviewing: OpenTable
By: OpenTable
Available on: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone
Price: Free
Should you get it? Yes

Having a useful website does not always translate into having a useful app. Take countless travel apps that perform poorly when compared to their online versions. So just because OpenTable has an easy-to-use, especially useful website does not mean that would carry over to the app.

In this case, however, those fears were unfounded as the OpenTable folks have delivered a perfect, simple, and elegant app. Like its online parent, the OpenTable app lets you make restaurant reservations. And while the website can sometimes feel cluttered and a little hard to navigate, the app offers the bare minimum. There are no bells and whistles; but in this case, you don't need them.

The OpenTable app makes it incredibly easy to use your phone to make a restaurant reservation – be it for tonight in Boston, or six months down the road in San Francisco. After registering (or logging in with an existing account), you simply pick a location, a date, and time. Once you enter that data, a list of available times at various eateries come up and finishing the reservation is just a couple of clicks away.

There's nothing fancy about this app. It doesn't do much to help you decide between the restaurants (though you can see menus and read reviews from other OpenTable customers). You can also get directions by accessing the Maps app from the OpenTable app, but none of that is the point. This is an app that lets you make a reservation in a few simple clicks and it does that fabulously well.

OpenTable also has a rewards system tied into your account where you get points for every reservation you make and keep. Those points can be traded in for gift cards good at any OpenTable restaurant. Since the app offers a useful service without offering a kickback, the rewards system is simply icing on an already delicious cake.

By Rachel Raczka
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Epicurious
By: Conde Nast Digital
Price: Free
Platforms: Tested on iPhone, available for iPad, Android, Nook Color, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire
Should you get it?: Yes.

Let me preface this review by saying: I cook a lot. And I bake more than I cook. So I spent a fair amount of time using this app. But don't let that scare you away; I recommend the app for the experienced cook as well as the kitchen novice.

Touted as a portable version of the popular website that proclaims it's "for people who love to eat," the Epicurious app features the same seemingly endless supply of recipes sourced from the Conde Nast treasure trove of the likes of Bon Appetit, Self, and Gourmet magazines.

By Michael Warshaw
Globe Staff

Reviewing: TuneIn Radio Pro
By: TuneIn
Available for: iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and more
Price: 99 cents
Should you get it? If you like radio, then absolutely

There was a time, decades ago, when it was a thrill to stay up late at night with the old family radio, listening to distant voices through crackling static.

If only we had smartphones in those days, and the TuneIn Radio app.

TuneIn is, very simply, an Internet radio app that boasts access to at least 50,000 on-air and Internet radio stations, not to mention program feeds and podcasts. But what makes this app so valuable is how easy it is to find the music, talk show, station, or stream that you want to listen to.

By Teresa Hanafin
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Waze
By: Waze Mobile
Available for: iPhone
Price: Free
Should you get it? Yes, if you appreciate crowdsourcing

The GPS navigation app market is crowded with big and familiar names: Garmin N. America ($59.99), Magellan RoadMate USA ($34.99), TomTom USA ($36.99), Navigon USA ($29.99), and more.

But none have what I have found to be an indispensable part of my daily commute: The wisdom of crowds.

Waze does. It's what makes this app stand out. It's a superior GPS navigator with the added bonus of real-time reports about traffic tie-ups, accidents, construction slowdowns, police, and speed traps -- all from fellow drivers.

As I sit here at Boston.com on Morrissey Boulevard on a summer Friday, for example, I can see in my Waze app that traffic heading south on the Expressway is traveling at just 31 mph, and there's been a minor accident on Columbia Road near the JFK T stop. Oh, wait -- I reported that minor accident on my way in this morning. Never mind.

Here's a look at Waze's best features and a couple of minor annoyances.