At long last Labor Mate 1.2 is in the App Store.  Only 6 weeks later then I originally hoped, but better late then never. Why did it take so long? Good question.

The version 1.2 release of Labor Mate took longer then expected because it is basically a re-write from the original. I probably should have labeled it version 2.0 but I decided against it because there are only a handful of new features.  The re-write was needed to give the app greater stability especially in low memory conditions.  The re-write will also make it easier for me to add new features going forward.

So what new features are included? Well, my favorite is the new contraction detail screen that allows users to enter notes about the contraction or delete the contraction from the log.  Adding notes will be handy for when you need to remember something about the particular contraction.  And yes, the notes are included in the email that is sent from Labor Mate.

Some users might notice the new app icon.  Jeff and Michael over at Ocupop did an outstanding job coming up with the new icon, which really captures the primary purpose of Labor Mate.  I highly recommend these guys if you are looking for a design company.

What’s next? I already have ideas for the next release of Labor Mate. The top priority is charting, or a graph representing a set of contractions over time. I have a couple of other ideas too but I’m keeping those to myself at the moment. I want to make sure they are doable before making any promises.

The next release of Labor Mate, the labor contraction stopwatch for the iPhone and iPod touch, is nearly complete. The new release will include a new icon, some changes to the user interface, and some new functionality including being able to delete an individual contraction and adding notes to a contraction. But more importantly are the number of improvements behind the scenes.

A number of memory leaks have been fixed, and areas such as scrolling have been improved. It’s fair to say that this release of Labor Mate is almost a complete re-write of the original. This is a good thing because it will enable me to add new features faster in the future.

To those of you whom I told the next release would be available two weeks ago, sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience.