Submitted by Sascha on Fri, 08/01/2008 - 06:03.
I’m gonna give you a run down of the top 10 free apps from the App store and Installer… the reason is, Apple isn’t going to allow some of the coolest apps, as it’s against their ‘rules’, so we’ll take a little look at both :)
10. MySpace (4 out of 5)
I stopped using MySpace for a long time, and instead used Facebook. But I faced a problem, a lot of my friends were still on MySpace, as in the UK it’s the social networking market leader. To be fair to them, this app is really really cool.
Unlike the Facebook app it allows you to upload photo’s you already have saved on the phone (whereas if you want to do this with Facebook, you either need to copy them to your computer first, or email them to mobile@facebook.com).
Viewing photo’s is a breeze, and although it doesn’t allow you to see them completely full screen like the Facebook App, it does allow you to slide through them, see picture comments (which the Facebook App does not) and also see the descriptions and leave comments.
Sadly the profile view for it is limited, and it doesn’t show quite as much info as you can see using the Facebook app (which is also pretty limited).
It is however great for sending messages, and reading comments. I’ve started to use MySpace more now, when I’m bored or sitting on a bus, it’s great to just pull out and take a look at messages.
9. Flashlight (4 out of 5)
I used to use the Light app through installer on my original iPhone, then when I got my iPhone 3G, this completely filled the void. It has different colours by just scrolling through them with your finger, and even has a strobe light on it (which can really spin people out in the dark)… just make sure you don’t use it on epileptic people :)
8. Facebook (4 out of 5)
The days of going to iphone.facebook.com are over. The app is really great, the UI looks great and it just feels natural. It has Facebook IM built in which is pretty awesome, again for when your bored and need to kill some time, or you need to talk to someone without wasting your texts.
It’s quick, and loads much quicker than the Facebook iPhone website, and images even load really quickly over edge. This is helpful as it means you can free up some storage on your iPhone, and just open the Facebook app to show people the pictures from that holiday which you took snaps of using your original iPhone.
It is however limited as I wrote above in the MySpace app review. You don’t see as much information on peoples profile pages, and it can be a bit of a pain to navigate. It’s also a little hard to access your own wall.
It does have a built in camera feature, but it’s a risk. If you took a picture using it, the image doesn’t get saved to the iPhone, and if your net connection drops, then you’ll lose that photo forever. It also takes quite a while to upload using the camera feature, so the app really needs to take a look at the MySpace app, and allow users to upload photo’s directly from the iPhone’s albums.
7. iPint (4 out of 5)
A fun game developed by Carling, and the best part, it’s free. Using the iPhone’s accelerometers you guide a pint of Carling from one end of the bar to the customers hands by tilting the phone. Once you do it, you get a free pint of Carling (sorry, it’s a digital representation).
You can however skip the game and just pour a pint of digital Carling, which is pretty fun if someone asks you what the iPhone can do.
There’s only three levels, but considering it’s free, you really can’t complain. If you really want to have some fun, buy actual pints for the person who does it the quickest with the least smashes in a group of you.
6. Rotary Dialer (4 out of 5)
For those of you who like retro crap out there, this app is just a fun little gimmick. You dial by spinning the representation of a reel on your screen using your finger. It will then ring the number you dialled. Next time someone with a touchscreen phone asks you what the iPhone can do that theirs can’t… show them this.
5. Shazam (5 out of 5)
Shazam takes a sample of music by ‘listening out’ for it when you tell it to, and then tells you what the song is called. I installed Shazam after seeing it to see how it would work out, and to my supprise it worked really well. I tried a wide range of music at different volume levels, and it identified right every time. It even identified a few remixes I threw at it.
You may not think your going to use it all that much, and neither did I, but now I use it all the time. It’s just handy to keep on your phone, and then never wonder what song is playing in the store while your buying stuff again.
4. Remote (5 out of 5)
The remote app has probably been the most written about app from the App Store. Developed and released by Apple themselves, it really is pretty handy. I had a party the other day, and I was able to lower and raise the volume, and change the tracks on iTunes from a different room.
I have used this almost every day since I installed it on July 11th, and it really does come in handy. My number one complaint about using my computer as a TV was the fact that it didn’t have a remote, so I’d either have my laptop logged into it via VNC or LogMeIn and then pause it, stop it, play, or chose a film / TV show to watch, or I’d get up and walk over to the computer manually.
I don’t know about you, but I like to laze when I watch TV, so this is a really nice thing to have. If your used to using the iPod feature on your phone, you won’t even need to spent 2 seconds figuring out how to use this.
It would be nice if Apple could include Coverflow in the next version however.
3. Palringo (5 out of 5)
Palringo allows you to connect to pretty much all Instant Messenger platforms on the go. Before I had to use a web app to talk to my MSN buddies on the go, and I really don’t have that many friends on AIM.
The app loads my contact list of over 700 people very quickly, which is nice as I’ve suffered in the past with a few of the IM apps in Installer. It has a great UI which is very easy to use, and just seems to work. There’s not really much to write about it, but it does also allow you to transfer photo’s if your IM client supports that.
2. New York Times (4 out of 5)
The New York Times app is slow, especially over edge, but at the end of the day they report the news well, and it’s pretty much constantly updated. It’s easy to navigate, and if you need your new fix, it’s definitely worth looking at.
I know I’m a UK citizen, but hey, the New York Times reports on Worldwide news, and it makes me wonder when The Times or Guardian will get around to developing one, we could really do with a UK based news app. I’m looking at you Sky News!
1. Super Money Ball (5 out of 5)
Ok, it’s not free, but it’s definitely worth £5.99, which for a game is pretty cheap. Not to mention, if you know someone who already bought it, give them £2 and get them to authorise it on your computer… like their using iTunes on 5 PC’s anyway!
It’s got over 100 levels, although I haven’t quite managed to get past Level 13 yet. It kind of takes you back to those Sonic days of collecting rings. Guide your money in their ball through the maze type puzzle paths by tilting the phone.
The only problem I’ve really found with it is the fact it can be too sensitive to even the slightest tilt’s and that means your money will go flying off the egde.
Bet your friends that they can’t get past level 7 on their first try of it, and you’ll probably earn yourself a free pint (real one, not an iPint).
The bonus levels are fun, and it’s an all round well designed game.
