My Top iPhone Apps

I have been using the iPhone for more than 9 months, and I’m totally hooked by it.  One of its best attraction is the App Store. So many apps to choose from!  I took my time to test and play with them.  I’ve come up with a best list of  iPhone apps.  I continually use these apps.

1. Netflix
   Watching movies or TV series on the small screen is good boredom killer.  It’s a well made app too: Very simple user interface with a effective functions like resuming last movie played, and instant queue management.  The quality of streaming video is awesome too!
2. Facebook
   I admit I’m addicted to Facebook. I guess I’m the curious type. Just want to know what my friends are upto – in real time.  No matter where I am, it gives me the warm fuzzies I can still keep in touch.
3. Bejeweled Blitz
   Ever since I discovered this game in Facebook, I couldn’t stop playing it.  Even better now that it’s an iPhone App!  I have somewhat given up in trying to get a high score, since my friends have already scored close to 1,000,000 points!  But it’s still a good brain exerciser.
4. iPod
   Apple flagship product – for a good reason.  Everything I need in an MP3 player is all here: Shuffle Play and Audio Output control.  Apple really did their research in terms of usability here!  The only drawback is the use of iTunes to transfer files.  I don’t blame Apple for that though.  I blame the music industry for being overly paranoid on copyright.
5. Seesmic
   With my social media “addiction”, I wanted to post the same status updates to all of my favorite social sites.  Previously, I used the ping.fm website.  Since Seesmic bought ping.fm, they’ve integrated it into the app. Nice bonus.
6. Foursquare
   Geolocation Social Media is a new thing for me.  I’m always curious to know where everyone is and discover new places to visit, such as restaurants or sight seeing places.  People used to make their status updates to announce their location.  Now they have an official app to use to organize the activity.
7. Yelp
   Speaking of restaurants, Yelp is the ultimate place to find good ones. So far, I’ve got pretty accurate reviews. It’s a handy guide for the adventurous traveler.
8. IMDB
   Nothing beats reviews than IMDB movie reviews.  Since I watch a lot of movies (and TV shows), having information on my finger tips is nice.
9. Google Mobile
   This search app makes Googling is more fun using my voice.  It saves time typing.  I’m still not that proficient with touch-screen keyboard, unlike some people.  The voice recognition is not perfect, but it’s an excellent start.  Oh, don’t confuse this with the recently released Google Voice App, which I  haven’t found particularly useful yet since it has no push notification.
10. Skype
    When I didn’t have a phone service with my iPhone 3G, I relied on Skype (on Wifi) to make phone calls.  I used it for conference calls, and cheap calls to Canada.
11. Camera – now with HDR!
    Someone said, “The best camera is the camera that I’m currently carrying.” I always believe carrying one device for everything, and a camera is no exception.  The 5MP iPhone 4 camera is nice in the first place, and with the addition of HDR on iOS 4.1, taking decent photos is so convenient.  However, I’ve also discovered not all photos turn out well in HDR mode.  For example, when the subject is moving, HDR photo make more blurred images.  Good thing is, as a feature in the iPhone 4, I can save both HDR and non-HDR, so I can choose which one is better.
12. Notes
    Just like on Windows, I always use Notepad for a quick cut/paste text from web, terminal, etc.  I am trying out EverNote and Remember The Milk for a more elaborate note-taking, but it’s hard to beat this simple built-in app.
13. Runkeeper
    I try to keep fit by going cycling and walking.  It’s more fun to be able to keep track my travels, determine my pace, and amount of calories burned.  I can share my activities on Facebook or Twitter, but I won’t do that – just yet.
14. Amazon Kindle
    I don’t do much reading, but using the iPhone Kindle makes it more fun for me.  It’s also multi-device – not confined to just one.  Plus, it syncs via the Internet, so no reliance on a PC.
15. iBooks
    It supports PDF files.  That makes it very useful for reading comics and magazines.  But I think iBooks is much better on a bigger screen, like the iPad.  Oh well, I just have to make do on the iPhone4’s 3.5″ screen.
16. Angry Birds
    It’s the #1 game on the iPhone, and it will soon be released for Android and WebOS devices. I discovered this game late, but man is it addicting! Cute game to boot, too.
17. Fruit Ninja
    Nothing beats sliding my fingers back and forth quickly on the screen, especially in “Zen” mode.
18. StumbleUpon
    Another relatively new app for an old habit¹.  Discovering new websites is so much fun this way.
19. Pandora
    Internet Radio – who knew it’s possible?  Even though they can only play old albums and play the same song every 3 hours, it’s still useful to discover music that I don’t usually listen to.  The iPhone actually put the company Pandora Inc. on the map and make more money.

There are many reasons the native apps are being made – two of the biggest are bandwidth saving and performance.  There’s even a report that native apps also account for half of the mobile internet traffic.  It also doesn’t hurt to make money along the way. 😉

No doubt I’ll find more fun and interesting apps, so my list will be expanded, soon.  If anyone has a recommendation, let me know below in the comments!

1. It’s also a good way to drive traffic into my website! [↩]

Tags: applications, entertainment, games, iphone, utilities