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Here are some pictures I have taken
Over the past week, I have downloaded many apps for the iPhone. 34 of them are currently on my phone and I will be reviewing them here. I will also be rating them on a star based system–one being terrible, five being amazing.
AIM (***) FREE
AIM does what it promises to deliver, instant messaging, but nothing much more. Voice chat (3G and WiFi only of course) would make this a killer app.
Air Hockey (*) $0.99
Air Hockey for iPhone is a pretty lousy game. I would not recommend buying it.
Air Me (****) FREE
Air Me is a simple yet functional app. It lets you take pictures and upload them to Flickr. I really like it and capturing video and being able to upload it to Flickr would make it easily a 5 star app.
AOL Radio (****) FREE
AOL Radio is a nice app. It has several hundred AM and FM radio stations to access. It would be fantastic if your favorite out-of-market sports team’s broadcasts are on one of the stations. More stations carried would be great.
Baseball (*****) FREE
Baseball is my favorite iPhone app. It gives you statistics for every player and team since the 1890’s!!! This will be a go-to app for any baseball and statistic obsessed guy like me.
Cro-Mag Rally (*****) $9.99
Cro-Mag Rally is the best game for iPhone. The amazing graphics combined with the amazing gameplay and controls make this an overall great experience. I would request two features. One would be to have the ability to listen to your iPod rather than listen to the annoying in-game music. What would make this the best app of all time would be allowing online play with friends.
Crosswords (****) $9.99
Crosswords is a pretty good app. It downloads crosswords every day from many different sources and has a pretty nice UI.
Currency (***) FREE
This shows exchange rates for your money. The best way to watch the dollar fall on the iPhone. Beyond this, it does nothing more.
Dial Zero (*****) FREE
The most practical app I have used. You type in a company’s name and it shows you their customer support number and the quickest way to get directly to a live person. It has worked to perfection for me twice now.
Facebook (***) FREE
The Facebook app has potential. This is the most unstable app I have used, I have had a crash every single day using it. It is also probably the app I use most. Realistically, it is slightly less featured than the mobile version of the site but three stars for its potential and the service.
G-Park (TBD) FREE
I have not gotten a chance to use G-Park but if it works as advertised, it should be a very useful app.
Google Mobile App (**) FREE
I don’t really understand what this app has to offer. It does auto predict your search term but so does the mobile version of the Google site. I don’t know if I’m missing something here.
iNetwork Test (***) FREE
This is a useful app for determining network speeds, but has nothing else to offer.
iYardage (TBD) FREE
iYardage is another app I have yet to try. It claims to track your golf round but currently only supports 4 courses. They claim to be working on hundreds more and also have a GPS version in the works.
Last.fm (***) FREE
Last.fm is a decent app for streaming music. I don’t like their playlists so much but some people love it.
Light (***) FREE
Light is an app that provides…well…light. A blank white screen comes up to provide light when you need it.
Loopt (TBD) FREE
Loopt is another app that I have not yet been able to fully experience, as I currently have no friends who are using it. If it does what it says, it will be very interesting.
Midomi (****) FREE
Midomi is a very useful app for figuring out the name of a song that may be stuck in your head. Sing or hum a song and it will attempt (with about 50% accuracy from my experiences) to find the name of the song.
MLB At Bat (**) $9.99
MLB At Bat is a sub-par app. It offers a line score of MLB games as well as awesome in-game highlights. It needs to offer in-game statistics as well to make it worth your money; I look for this feature to come in an update.
Mobile Flickr (****) $2.99
Mobile Flickr is a great app for all things Flickr. You can view your photostream and the photostreams of friends. It is also the best way to upload pictures previously taken with your iPhone to Flickr. Air Me is a better app to take the pictures in.
Mobile News Network (***) FREE
Mobile News Network is a good app for viewing news from the AP on your iPhone. It allows you to read, email, and SMS the article.
Movies.app (****) FREE
Movies.app is a very good app for information about movies. It gives showtimes, allows you to watch trailers, and provides a link to IMDb.
Pandora Radio (*****) FREE
Pandora is a fantastic app for finding new music for your iPhone. It is very similar to Last.fm but I prefer Pandora’s recommendations.
Remote (*****) FREE
Remote is another great app for the iPhone, and the only app in the App Store created by Apple. Remote allows you to use your iPhone as a remote control to control iTunes. It works flawlessly and allows you to star-rate your home music from all around the house.
Restaurant Nutrition (****) FREE
Restaurant Nutrition is a very useful app that gives you the nutritional values of foods from the most popular chain restaurants.
Shazam (*****) FREE
Shazam is a wonderful app that identifies music that you hear on the radio or anywhere else. Hold your iPhone close to the audio source and it will find the song (with about 95% accuracy from my experience with it) and provides a link to buy it through iTunes.
SportsTap (****) FREE
SportsTap is an app that allows access to live sports scores and stats. There is also an iPhone website that is exactly the same as the app but the app does provide faster load times.
Sudoku (***) $7.99
Sudoku is exactly what you think it is, Sudoku. It is very simple to use (as long as you know how to play) but it makes you listen to the annoying Zen music instead of your iPod.
Super Monkey Ball (***) $9.99
Super Monkey Ball is a good game for iPhone. It easily has the best graphics of any game but the controls are ultra-sensitive, making it very hard to play. This is another game that forces you to listen to the annoying in-game sounds rather than your iPod.
Talking Spanish Phrases (****) FREE
Talking Spanish Phrases is a good app that provides Spanish translations of many phrases you may need to use while you are in a Spanish-speaking country. It will also play an audio clip so you can hear exactly how to pronounce the phrase.
Tap Tap Revenge (*****) FREE
The second best iPhone game and the #1 most downloaded app on the App Store. Tap Tap Revenge is similar to Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero/Rock Band, you tap the dots in tune with the music as they reach the bottom of the screen. Very simple, yet extremely entertaining. It also allows you to challenge friends and download new songs for free.
Twinkle (****) FREE
Twinkle is a good, location-aware Twitter client for iPhone. It allows you to post a tweet, view your friends tweets, and view tweets from people who are close to you. I still prefer Hahlo, a web app, but Twinkle is much better than Twitterific.
Yelp (***) FREE
Yelp is a great web service that translates into an average iPhone app. Yelp provides restaurant reviews, which I really like. But a full star is removed because it doesn’t let you see more than the 20 listings on the first page, a “More…” button would solve this problem.
YPmobile (TBD) FREE
The YellowPages app is another that I haven’t gotten to play with but seems to be pretty useful.
That’s it. Feedback is appreciated and comments are welcome.
I went through a whirlwind of emotions attempting to aquire an iPhone 3G. First off, let me explain to you WHY I wanted one so badly.
I had been living since October with both my 8 GB first gen iPhone and an 80 GB iPod (80 GB is way overkill as I only have about 20 GB of media). Two months ago, a terrible tragedy occured; my iPod showed the IPOD FROWNY FACE OF DEATH!!! This left me with only an 8GB iPhone, not nearly enough to house all my media.
When the iPhone 3G was released, I was ecstatic. It would only cost me $300 to get the 16GB iPhone I so desparately needed plus the added features. I also figured if I unlocked my first gen iPhone, I could get close to $300, allowing me to break even, plus get 3G and GPS.
But as July 11 approached, I looked it more closely and realized I would be paying $15 a month more (10 for 3G and 5 additional dollars for my 1500 a month texting plan). Finally, on July 16, I started my quest to find an iPhone 3G. The prior night, I planned to call the nearest five AT&T stores and the two nearest Apple Stores the moment they opened. I set my alarm for 9:00 AM, the time when the AT&T stores would be opening.
I woke up and started calling, but during my call with the second AT&T store, I discovered every AT&T store in the San Diego area was sold out of iPhones. At 10:00 I called the Apple Store UTC, a 20 minute drive from my house. They didn’t have any in stock. The Apple Store Fashion Valley, a 35 minute drive, was my last chance for the day. They said they had just received a shipment and a line had just begun to form. We rushed over and were there around 11:00.
By that time, there was a two hour line (according to a store employee). An hour and 45 minutes after entering the line, and moving no more than 20 feet (no exaggeration), I left san iPhone so I could make it to basketball camp on time. I called later and they told me they had been undermanned for the day, causing the slow-moving line.
At 9:00 PM that night, I checked Apple’s website to check the next day’s availability for the iPhone. To my delight, I discovered UTC would have all three models in stock, and Fashion Valley would only have the 16 GB white model, but that was the one I wanted. I planned to arrive at the UTC Apple Store at 9:35 to line up early to assure I got one.
The next morning, I arrived at UTC at 9:25 and was informed they had opened an hour early for iPhone customers only. I was upset, but figured I could still get one at the Fashion Valley store, a 15 minute drive from UTC. We arrived at Fashion Valley at 9:50 and were informed they too had opened at 9:00 for iPhone customers and they had also run out of stock. I was fuming, as this fact had not been posted on Apple’s website and I had not been informed in line the previous day.
After that my mom and I went shopping for about 30 minutes and were ready to go home. I planned to go to the local AT&T store and sign up for order fufillment and recieve my phone in a couple of weeks. As we were walking out of Fashion Valley, I asked my mom if I could at least go into the Apple Store to take a look at the 3G phone I wanted so badly. She approved so we walked to the store. To my surprise, there was a line outside.
As it turned out, they had recieved a shipment of iPhones 5 minutes after I had left. Obviously, I joined the line and an hour and 15 minutes later, I had reached the front of the line. An Apple Store employee came to the door to welcome me and asked which model I wanted. I requested the 16 GB white so he grabbed one and took me to an iMac. Five minutes later, I was walking out of the store with an activated iPhone.
Waiting in line was not as bad as I imagined; I met some very nice people and actuallly enjoyed the time.
Finally, I have my iPhone 3G and I’m LOVING IT!!!
Welcome to my new blog. I will not be posting about any single particular subject; instead, I’ll be writing about whatever is interesting me at the moment. Enjoy!
