There are few things more important than a good solid cup of something. First thing in the morning, last thing at night. During times of stress or loss, or as a part of a hearty celebration, something warm in the hands gives lasting comfort. But, tragically, there are far too many unfortunate people who still have problems mastering the absolute basics of a good brew.

Enter How To Boil A Kettle. This free Android application installs to your smartphone and delivers clear, crisp instructions on how to master the boiling of water in a kettle. While the authors could have produced a complex and multi-layered product, they opted – wisely in our opinion – for a very simple, wizard based approach, which gives just the right amount of information without burdening the reader with too much information.

Each screen therefore delivers just the required amount of information and no more, thereby ensuring that the intricate details can be visualized easily and acted upon. It’s a masterpiece of user interface design, and we applaud the developers for their restraint.

Of particular interest in the app is the subtle and yet powerful use of background music which complements the elegant ‘click and progress‘ format of the app structure. It’s exactly what’s needed to add the atmosphere which is usually missing in this kind of high level app, and again the developers have managed to hit exactly the right note, if you’ll forgive the bon mots.

All in all this is a splendid effort, and we look forward to many more titles in the range (educational apps for toasters and egg boiling are long overdue in our humble estimation) as well as more products covering tricky physical tasks such as walking and breathing. Highly recommended.