When you get your iPhone out of the box for the first time, you’ll realise there are some totally amazing features, however some little things are missing. Thanks to Apple’s iTunes App Store, the void is filled with 3rd party apps, some free and some paid for. In this little run down, we highlight the best apps that every iPhone owner should install from day 1.
Google Mobile App
Whilst the iPhone has Google search built right in to Safari, Google’s own iPhone app is far more advanced, brings in nearly all the popular Google apps in to one iPhone app and also most importantly has voice searching within Google itself.
Imagine, you are walking, typing on your iPhone is a little awkward, simply open Google Mobile App and lift the iPhone to your ear. When you hear the bleep, simply say what you want to search for, for example, “Cinema Times”. Because the iPhone knows where you are located, it will give you Google’s search results, but with targetted results for your location. The possibilities are endless, and the voice recognition is surprisingly accurate.
Skype
Skype is the most popular way to talk online for free. Using your PC and internet connection, Skype allows you to call anyone in the world (who has Skype installed) for free for as long as you want.
Skype is now available for iPhone, and when you are in a wifi zone you can now call all your Skype buddies for FREE from your iPhone wherever they are in the world. Skype has revolutionized the way people communicate internationally, and now thanks to iPhone, you can do this without being tethered to your PC.
Our full review of Skype can be read here.
IM+ Lite
Most PC or Mac users tend to use one form of Instant Messenger to stay in touch with their friends and workmates. IM+ is a global IM client app, enabling you to use MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Chat, Google Talk, AIM, MobileMe, ICQ, Jabber, MySpaceIM and Facebook Chat. all in one app. With IM+, having an online chat with someone is as simple as sending a text message.
Facebook is one of the most popular ways to stay in touch with your friends online, the iPhone version of Facebook almost perfectly replicates the user experience of using your desktop computer.
Tweetie
If you Twitter, then Tweetie is the app for you. Tweetie is actually the first paid app in this list, however it’s well worth the few dollars in your currency. Tweetie’s interface is slick and fast and this app allows you to have more than one Twitter account should you need it. Also don’t forget to install the Twitter app in Facebook, so that when you update your Twitter with Tweetie, your Facebook Status will update automatically too. A great time saver.
News Stand
Keeping up with the news is getting more and more time consuming these days. We all have more and more ‘favourite’ sites we like to check every morning and so more and more time is wasted. Thanks to RSS on most news websites, it’s now possible to aggregate this content in to on long stream of data that can then be read on the web with something like Google Reader, or on your iPhone with an app like News Stand. You can even subscribe to our RSS feed if you like!
News Stand enables you to enter all your favourite websites (or import your list from Google Reader), and it will download all the content to your iPhone for viewing online or offline at a time that is convenient for you. RSS readers are not new to the iPhone, in fact there are many RSS reader apps already, however News Stand just looks pretty and works very well. It’s stable, and has a lovely look when you flip your iPhone in to landscape mode. Also, if you find something of particular interest to you, News Stand also has a built in Twitter plugin, enabling you to Twitter the link to the new article to your Twitter status update. If you’d like Twitter to also update your Facebook Status read our tutorial.
News Stand enables you to stay up to date with everything that interests you, in a fast and effective way.
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May 13th, 2009 at 10:24 am
BUMP is another awesome iPhone app. iPhone Face Book still has a lot room to improve to be more mobile user friendly.