Submitted by Sascha on Fri, 08/01/2008 - 06:11.
10. Light (3 out of 5)
I covered Flashlight in the App Store top 10 Apps, but I think Light is worth a mention here too. Flashlight allows different colours and a strobe, this however on does white. It’s still really useful no matter what and fills the void of the iPhone having no camera flash to use as a torch. There are other light apps out there, but this is just simple and no fuss.
9. Swap Tunes (4 out of 5)
Swap Tunes allows you to sync your iPhone with more than one computer, which can be really handy if you tend to use two computers in different places (eg. Home & Office). Just make sure you have the right library open, otherwise you could accidentally erase the content off your iPhone which leaves you without until you can get back to that libraries computer.
8. Colloquy (4 out of 5)
Colloquy is an IRC application for the iPhone, and in my opinion the best there is. Easy to use with a pretty GUI. However, like the Mac version, it doesn’t support some standard IRC commands, and occasionally in a busy channel left on for too long, the screen goes red and you have to exit the application and restart it.
Other than that, it’s nice to use and pretty damned reliable. (Remember to join us at irc.evasiveheights.com | Port: 6667 | Channel: #townsquare)
7. Mobile Cast (4 out of 5)
Mobile Cast allows you to download Podcasts on the go. If your like me, you plug your iPhone into the wall adapter to charge, and rarely sync it with your PC. This app means that you can download your favourite podcasts (such as TWiT, Diggnation, and future Live25 Podcasts) wirelessly.
I don’t recommend doing it over edge, but 3G and WiFi is fine. It’s a simple layout that works great, however it doesn’t yet have cover art or support Video podcasts.
6. Apollo IM (4 out of 5)
Apollo IM is the most popular IM client on the iPhone supporting all the major IM services. It’s got a pretty sweet interface and is fast. My only disappointment is, if you have a lot of contacts (I have 700+ on Windows Live Messenger), it takes ages to load and won’t let you exit until you’ve fully loaded your contact list.
They should really route it through a secure webserver or something to speed that up, but other than that, works great.
5. MX Tube (4 out of 5)
MX Tube allows you to search for and then download / save YouTube videos. Before iTunes for the iPhone came along (and even after because it was free), this was a great way to get music on the go.
If you’re connected to a wireless network, then you can save a high quality version of the video, and there’s also a low quality version for EDGE users. The app looks and acts pretty much the same as YouTube, so you’ll feel right at home.
It means that you can pre-save YouTube videos and show your mates without waiting ages over EDGE for the video to load on YouTube. Need I remind you that from 1.1.3 version of the firmware, YouTube didn’t even allow you to load the videos unless you had an EDGE connection, so this was a good work around and you have the video for future reference.
4. Showtime (5 out of 5)
The developers of this app require you to buy it (for $10) unless you only want to record three seconds of audio free video.
Showtime allows you to record video on your iPhone. A feature that is on even the cheapest and most basic handsets these days. Heck even the lowest end Nokia 2760 has it!
The app is easy to use, you just hit record and it records the video for as long as you can handle the storage space required. If you wanted to then copy that video to your computer, you need to use an FTP app for your iPhone, or SSH.
3. Fring (5 out of 5)
Fring was a latecomer to the IM Apps space, but it did a hell of a good job. The user interface is stunning, and it’s quick and easy to use. It supports most IM services, and most importantly, it allows you to use Skype on your iPhone! It also supports GTalk.
The quality is really clear over WiFi (it wouldn’t let me make a call over EDGE for understandable reasons). It does occasionally crash, rarely hoever, and makes the phone physically warm. None the less, an amazing app.
2. Customize (5 out of 5)
Customize lets you do what all computers these days, and most phones let you do. Theme your phone. Add a wallpaper, change icons, and before the days of 1.1.3, you could also use it to rearrange icons.
You can change the image your iPhone shows during charging (battery icon) and you can even make the carrier logo the Starfleet Insignia if you wanted. Change how SMS chat looks, and even change the background on the springboard (desktop).
I must warn you however, this can slow down your iPhone and make it prone to crashing, other than that, it really does spice you up a little.
1. Tap Tap Revolution
Forget Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, and use your fingers to tap out the chords and beats to your favourite songs. You pick a song from your library, and tap on the coloured prompts (Red, Green and Blue) to try and get a high score.
It’s a really fun game to play with friends and see who can get the highest score, and because it’s the community who makes the settings for each song (you can even make your own), there’s lots of different levels from easy to insanely hard.
If you come across a song in your library that hasn’t been done yet, make your own and by the next day you’ll be sure to forget it, plus it means that others who download TTR and have that song will be able to play.
Bonus Apps:
Pirates (4 out of 5)
Pirates lets you take a picture of anyone using your iPhone and transform them into a pirate. Works really well and is definitely a laugh. Halloween and Costumes are both similar, but feature other images. Just take a picture, and then drag the pieces onto the photo (eg. hat, parrot, beard and moustache)
Sketches (4 out of 5)
It’s an Etch-a-sketch for your iPhone!! Draw a picture using your finger, or just scribble and then shake your phone to get rid of it. You can change the size and colour of the ink, and you can also pick a photo or take a new one and draw over it.
