I've owned an iPhone since the day they came out. The world seems divided into two groups, those who roll their eyes at the previous statement, and those who are right there with me. This post is meant for the latter.

With the release of the iPhone3G and iPhone 2.0 software, the iPhone expanded it's horizons immensely with the addition of the App Store. Less than a year later, there are over 15,000 applications available for the iPhone. Why? Because it is easy to code for and very versatile. There are some great games for the iPhone but for now I will just talk about those apps that I find extremely useful:

• Evernote(free)- Whether it is a simple grocery list, word document, picture, web page, whatever, evernote is tha app to store and organize them with. There is an iPhone app, a desktop app (for Windows and Mac) as well as a browser plugin and a web-based version. It means you can literally access your notes from any device or anywhere with an internet connection. Another bonus is that it recognizes the text ini anything you submit and makes it searchable. Especially helpful if you are scanning old documents or receipts.
• Yahoo OneConnect(free) - Will likely overlooked as just an instant messenger application, OneConnect actually ties all of the social networks together so you can post and look at updates all in one consolidated view. I use it to post to Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and Friendster simultaneously. It is not meant to be a fully-featured client but it does link to the mobile websites of all the major social networks. If you do a lot with any of these networks, you should also seek out a more full-featured program.
• Weatherbug (free) - The iPhone buit-in weather app is decent, but weatherbug gets you weather in your neighborhood as well as direct links to radar, cameras, etc.
  
• WunderRadio (5.99) - Almost every radio statiion now has a way to listen online and with WunderRadio you can now access almost every single ronventional radio and weather radio station in the US. It's especially good if you're a traveller wanting to listen to your home stations or you just like adding some variety to your daily listening.
  
• Weightbot (1.99) - There are a ton of weight loss and exercise related applications. I find it quite hard to track calories (unless you eat TV dinners every meal) and track exercise (unless you live and work on a running track) so all I wanted to do was track weight. Weightbot does just one thing and does it well, track weight, so that is why I picked it. Put in your height and goal weight and then it's a snap to post updates. Open the app, scroll to enter your weight (it defaults to your last measurement) and close the app. That's it. Turning the app sidewya gives you multiple graphs showing your recorded weight over time, progress towards your goal, and estimates when you'll reach that goal.
• WinAdmin (11.99) - If you have a need to remote control Windows systems, whether it be for work, or just want to connect to your home computer, then this is the best app to do it with. It's a bit pricey, but many IT nerds can justify it.
• Byline (4.99) - There are a plethora of RSS readers out there, but if you use Google Reader on your desktop, you'll want Byline on the iPhone because it is fully integrated with Google Reader and also offers offline use.
• Myspace/Facebook/LinkedIn (free) - All three have free iPhone apps which offer a decent experience. Of the three, the facebook is probably one of the best designed.
• Shazam (free) - One of the neatest ever mobile applications, Shazam can listen to the music around you, whether it be on the radio or in an elevator, and then tell you the artist, title and even gives links to buy the song, read the lyrics and watch a video.
  
• Box.net (free) - Lets you store PDF files, pictures, documents, etc. on the internet from any PC and access them from your iPhone. Good place to store commonly used spreadsheets, password lists, etc.
• Slacker/Pandora (free) - Both are internet radio apps allowinig for you to listen to station you customize (Pandora) or one of thousands of existing internet-only stations that cater to every taste(Slacker.)
• Google Docs - While not an app per se, Google has a great web-based document and spreadsheet tool that can be accessed from the phone or any other browser. Pretty good if you're not a fan of Evernote.
• Nuevasync - Also not a real app exactly, website www.nuevasync.com allows you to synchronize your google contacts and google calendar directly with your iPhone automatically over the air. If you're a google-head, you may need to visit this site.
  

This entry was posted on February 28, 2009 at 1:17 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.