Favorite iPhone Apps, Part 1 -- The Useful
Last week, I wrote about why iCaved and bought the iPhone, and my initial "first-48-hours" impression of this decadent piece of gadgetry.
Yeah, yeah, I raved about the juvenile goofiness and silly splendor of the iFart application, which turns your iPhone into a fart gag and is one of the top selling apps right now. Last weekend, I was playing with it while hanging with friends at Red Canoe, a quaint bookstore in Lauraville, when I think I grossed some people out before I showed them it was really just my iPhone. (If you frown upon such sophomoric gags, then you can commiserate with Kara Swisher over at the veritable Wall Street Journal, who calls the iFart "toddler programming.")
Silly, nonsensical apps aside, readers were very helpful in pointing me to a ton of free (or cheap) apps in the iPhone's App Store that they like to use. So I thought it would be useful (for myself and for you) to compile all the recommendations into two blog posts: The Useful (Part 1) and The Fun (Part 2)
Without further iDo, I mean, ado, here are The Useful ones, in alphabetical order. Just hit the jump for the list. If you like an app that's not on the list, let us know with a comment (Note to spammers and guerilla marketers: no self-promoting here.)
Some of the apps below are free, some are paid:
* AirSharing: for wirelessly sharing files between home and work
* Amazon.com: for buying directly from one of the biggest sites on the web.
* Ambiance: generates white noise or other sounds to set a mood
* AP Mobile News: Associated Press's iPhone app
* AroundMe: for finding stores, restaurants, stuff to do near you
* Bank of America: mobile banking
* EBay: for accessing the online auction site
* ForeFlight: preflight intelligence" for airplane pilots
* FStream: for live-streaming audio, including police scanner transmissions!
* GoodRec: a user-generated recommendation community
* Google: voice-search app and several other Google products, including Google Reader and Goog Earth (for satellite views and location-finding, i.e. looking for pizza places near you? Google Earth will find them.
* iHandyToolkit: turns your iPhone into a handy level and four other tools. Used by Liz Kay!
* Instapaper: capture webpages on your computer and automatically sync with your phone for reading later
* iStockManager: manage your brokerage account at TD Waterhouse
* Jott: voice-to-text service. for dictating emails, text messages, notes, etc.
* MobileFiles: move files between computer and iPhone without Wi-Fi
* MyLists: a list generator for your organizing needs
* PhoneFlix: manage your NetFlix account
* Pinger: for managing voice, email, text and social media within one app
* Remote: Turn your iPhone into a remote control for iTunes and AppleTV
* SaveBenji's: a price comparison app
* Shazam: identifies whatever music you're listening to, in case you don't know the artist
* ShoppingList: handy for grocery shopping
* Snaptell: take a picture of a book cover, CD or videogame and get reviews and comparison prices at retailers
* Things: task management
* Tipstar: helps you calculate tips
* Tipulator: another tip-calculator
* UrbanSpoon: helps you find local restaurants with a shake of the phone
* Vlingo: voice recognition for mobile apps
* WeDict: a dictionary and thesaurus program
* Wikipanion: for direct access to Wikipedia
Comments
Thanks for this, Gus. I trust your judgement on these things.
Bwwaaaattttt...
Posted by: Bucky | January 14, 2009 5:04 PM