Microsoft/Mac Monday
Today we’re taking a look at our Top 10 applications for the iPhone followed by a list of some of our other favorites. For those of you who have your own favorite apps, let us know what they are in the comments…
NetNewsWire (link)
NetNewsWire is an RSS reader for your iPhone and it’s a favorite because we have found it to be the fastest way to read feeds on the iPhone. You can synchronize it with FeedDemon on Windows and NetNewsWire on a Mac, or any other NewsGator product. It’s actively being developed so it’s only going to get better.
Twinkle (link)
There are a few different Twitter applications available for the iPhone but Twinkle seems to bring the best of all of them together, plus it’s free. Twinkle allows you to find other people who are twittering nearby and you can also attach images and update your location. Appearance-wise it has a fantastic interface that is easy on the eyes.
Pandora/AOL Radio (link)(link)
Pandora and AOL Radio are our two favorite music streaming applications. It’s tough to pick which one is better because they serve two different purposes. Pandora sits there and analyzes the music that you like and tries to provide more of the same, while AOL Radio is more your typical radio station providing playlists not customized to the user. Both are great!
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YP Mobile/Yelp (link)(link)
We decided to combine the YellowPages.com Mobile and Yelp together because when we were on vacation, both helped us find restaurants and attractions. Yelp was nice because you could read the reviews right from the iPhone of what people thought of the service listed. It would be great if people could add reviews right from the app, but they don’t at this point. Overall, both are helpful for when you are in unfamiliar areas and you are looking for restaurants or places to go.
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Super Monkey Ball (link)
Super Monkey Ball is one of the apps that you have to pay for to enjoy. The cost is $9.99 and it’s definitely one of the most talked about and most popular games for the iPhone. They have included 110 different stages which makes it worth the money. It’s not something you’ll beat in just a couple of hours, that’s for sure.
It took us a little while to get used to keeping our hand steady so that the monkey wouldn’t go falling off the edge. It’s extremely sensitive, but if it weren’t, it would make the game too easy and less fun to play.
Sudoku Unlimited (link)
The cost for Sudoku Unlimited is $2.99. It includes three different skins to choose from so that you have a variety of appearances to choose from, including a hand written one that really makes it look like you are writing your answers out on a piece of paper.
Sudoku Unlimited allows you to put notes in any of the cells which is really nice. I don’t know about you, but we tend to make notes all of the time on a Sudoku puzzle, especially the tricky ones, so this is a must-have feature.
With five difficulty settings, Sudoku Unlimited appeals to a wide-array of players. It automatically generates the puzzles so that you never run out, which is nice as well. Both Ryan and I really like Sudoku, so for $2.99, we couldn’t pass up Sudoku Unlimited!
Zenbe Lists (link)
Using Zenbe lists, you can create all of your lists (like grocery) online and then sync them to your iPhone. You can also share lists with others which is helpful. For example, I can share a list with Ryan and he can share one with me. The interface for both the online and iPhone portions are really intuitive. This is one of those applications that can help you become more productive and save you time.
WeatherBug (link)
The iPhone comes with a weather application, but the WeatherBug application is able to provide many more details like wind speed, severe weather alerts, detailed forecasts, and more. The radar makes use of the built-in Google maps so that you can really zoom in and get to your local area to see if a storm is close to you or not.
Exposure (link)
Exposure has both a free and paid version available, with the paid version costing $9.99. The free version pays for itself with unobtrusive advertisements, and this is the version we use. Exposure makes it really easy to show photos to people from Flickr and view images posted by your contacts. You can search for nearby geo-tagged photos and general searching of all photos on Flickr is available as well.
eBay Mobile (link)
eBay Mobile makes it easy to search and manage items from your eBay account. Users can view auctions they are watching, view items they are selling, and more. You can also bid on items right from the app.
We’ve found this app to be the most handy when we were out at a store and wanted to see if something was a good deal or not. All it took was a quick search using this app to get eBay results. You really get a full eBay experience using this application.
Other Apps we like:
These are free unless otherwise noted.
- AccuFuel ($0.99)- helps you monitor your vehicle’s fuel efficiency
- Box Office – read reviews of movies, locate theaters and show times, and purchase tickets
- Carrie’s Dots – (free version is 2 player only) – this is the classic game of filling in the squares by drawing a line
- Cube Runner – a good free example of using the iPhone’s accelerometer in a game
- Facebook – Facebook fans will love Facebook on their iPhone!
- iChoose – indecisive? This app provides with with a random yes/no, coin toss, dice roll and card choice to make decisions for you
- Mobile News Network – this app is brought to you by the Associated Press and helps you keep up with the latest news around the globe.
- Morocco – the classic game of Othello
- myLite – flashlight app (free, and one of the best)
- PegJump – the classic wooden peg game
- Remote – by Apple, for remotely controlling iTunes
- Scribble – draw a design and then shake to erase
- Shazam – helps you identify a song when you don’t know what it is
- SportsTap – gets all of your sports scores
- WordPress – create and edit content on your WordPress blog
Hands down, my favorite app (I’m using an iPod touch) is the “Tuner” app. I like to listen to AM talk radio, and in the midst of all the electronics in my house I don’t have a simple portable radio. So the tuner app lets me move freely while listening to radio. It’s like $7 or something, but worth it.
My favorite app is the game Chopper. I can not put it down. I mastered it on Easy and am now working to master it on Hard.
I’ve been using AOL Radio, but have been strongly thinking about getting Tuner. How does it work on the Edge/3G network? I didn’t know if it buffers the station for a few seconds so that it doesn’t skip.
I grabbed Super Monkey Ball, and that is a great game. I’ll definitely have to grab Chopper soon though.
I do not see that you will go wrong with it if you like shooting games at all.
It’s great to see our myLite Flashlight and Colored Strobe app as one of their favorites. Just dropping a line that we submitted yet another update and you should really check out the new lighter flame. Thanks for the support, we are happy to offer it FREE.
Thanks for the free app. It is the one that I use when I need it.
Great list! I’ve been looking for a good Sudoku app. Would you say this is the best one out there?
Awesome… I really like the fact that you’re including the features and functionality from several different apps in this one. It’s a simple concept, but you’ve done a great job designing it.
I haven’t tried out any of the other Sudoku apps so I’m probably not fit to say it’s the best, but I can say that I’m 100% satisfied with this one. It’s one of the cheapest Sudoku apps, and I’ve played dozens of games on it without any trouble.
all these apps
..of course wrong thread but out of curiosity…why haven’t you posted
anything regarding the extremly bad reception problems the iphone 3g has…so many people wondering whats wrong…and apple says “nada”
apple really sucks and i’m glad i dont have a mac… but i do have an iphone 3g and i’m beginning to loose my temper regarding this
Bad reception problems? This is the first I’ve heard of reception problems. We’ve noticed that the reception is actually better with our iPhone 3G than the iPhone was. Calls are crystal clear! The only times we have issues are in known places where the signal isn’t very strong.
Nice selection, I have to check Exposure when I get my iPhone. Really like the GPS connection there.
What makes you prefer Zenbe over RTM (Remember The Milk)?
lars, did you compare reception with other phones in the same place, using the same provider?
i’m glad you don’t have any problems with your phone ashley
but there are tons of other who has..including me
google “iphone 3g bad reception” or look at the large threads on apples forum [discussions.apple.com]
anyway now you know
well, everything is covered in the threads @ apple
..but other phones has very good 3g reception here, my is UP and Down…from -110 dBm to -90 in a good “turbo” 3g area (7,2 mbits)
Bummer Lars! Perhaps this is a provider issue and not something Apple has control over…?
nope, the phones have crappy antennas
“all over the world”, same issue…
I had terrible reception when I first got my iPhone, but Apple switched out my phone for a new one. My new phone is just fine. I read that the internal antennas on some phones were defective. It was awful, now no problem.
my favorite app is iflashnote. type in words or pick from a list of common ones, and it shows full screen, so your friends can see it from across the classroom.
yeah really good list. But I have some of them though they’re free.
iCrazyDog 1.0 for iPhone released.
[iphoneapp4fun.com]