App Review – A Smattering of iPhone Apps

It’s difficult to know what it would be like to own a device without seeing what it’s like to USE a device and, for me with the current generation of smart phones, that’s all about the apps.

So here are some of my top apps on my iPhone. This is in no way an exhaustive list of what comes pre-installed and what I’ve added. This is just a smattering of apps excluding, for example, all games (I have a LOT of apps on my phone).

Phone Calls & Messaging:

Phone (included) – The stories about bad reception with the iPhone seemed to dry up the moment it was available on more than just the incredibly poor AT&T network in the States. I’ve never had issues with dropped calls or bad reception using my phone in the UK. FaceTime (free video calling) is fun if you know someone else with an iPhone but as it’s not cross-platform it’s not that useful.

Messages (included) – Traditional text messaging. For me this has been replaced by Beluga, WhatsApp, and Twitter DMs. Probably an issue with my network provider (O2) but I find that text messages can get significantly delayed before being delivered which makes them totally pointless whereas Beluga, for example, is consistently fast. Plus with other messaging services I don’t need to worry about monthly limits and I can text my friends who live abroad.

Beluga (free) – An app I’ve written about before here. Free international cross-platform group text messaging. Brilliant.

WhatsApp (59p) – Another free text messaging app. This one has a Blackberry app (rather than Blackberry users needing to use their web browser) so it’s more BB friendly than Beluga. However the design isn’t quite as clean.

Mail (included) – A basic email app which can handle multiple accounts.

Social Networking:

Echofon Pro (£2.99) – A great Twitter client and I’ve pretty much tried them all. Stable app with regular updates. Echofon wins over the others for me as it includes push notifications so @replies, direct messages, new followers, etc. are pinged to you even if the app is closed. Free ad-supported version available.

Facebook (free) – The standard free Facebook app. It’s buggy as hell, notifications are unreliable, and I hate facebook’s poorly designed rambling complexity but until everyone’s on Twitter, or a better social networking site takes off, resistance seems futile.

Foursquare (free) – The number 1 geolocation check-in social network. I love Foursquare although there are obvious security issues with saying “I’m not home” so I’m only Foursquare friends with close friends and family. It’s useful for bumping into people in town (I fancy a coffee, oh look my friend’s at Starbucks), letting friends know you’ve arrived at a venue, finding hints & tips about places, and keeping track of when you visited somewhere. Plus there’s the whole competitive points-scoring, mayorships, and badges side which makes it a fun game too.

Music:

Spotify (free) – With our premium Spotify account I can stream music from Spotify’s servers to my phone ad-free and download music to listen to offline. Plus I can create, amend, and delete my Spotify playlists. Requires a paid Spotify account.

Sonos Controller (free) – A free controller app for the Sonos stereo we have. Used more often than not with our Spotify streaming service by creating playlists with the Spotify app and then playing them on our stereo using our Sonos app.

iPod (included) – Not used for music anymore (see above) but I do listen to audio podcasts. Formula 1 podcasts, audiobooks, beer podcasts, comedy shows. Podcasts are awesome.

SoundTracking (free) – A music check-in social networking app that I’m trying out. Seems fun so far. (Replaces my #nowplaying tweets.)

Productivity & Organisation:

CalenGoo (£3.99) – An excellent google calendar app. A solution we found when Nev and I were looking for one shared calendar without syncing headaches between Apple’s iCal and Microsoft’s calendar. Works perfectly syncing over the air with both of us able to create, amend, and delete events.

Notes (included) – Very simple note making app.

Contacts (included) – Address book. For me this syncs with my main address book as I use a Mac so it’s perfect. For PC users probably not so helpful.

RE.minder (£2.39) – I’ve raved about this app before on twitter. It’s a very simple app that allows you to set yourself a reminder to go off at a time of your choice. Recent updates have added more functionality without impacting usability. Free ad-supported version available.

Evernote (free) – I use my free Evernote account, amongst other things, for all my recipes. This app lets me access my recipes on the hoof. Evernote is just free and fabulous.

Dropbox (free) – Access your Dropbox on your phone. Dropbox is an online service for saving files to a ‘cloud’ and accessing them from all your computers. Dropbox is also free and fabulous.

Wunderlist (free) – Simple list making app that sync between devices. Very useful for shopping lists and packing lists.

Momento (£1.79) – Diary app that imports entries from Twitter, Foursquare, blog entries, Flikr, etc. I’ve written about Momento before here, it’s one of my favourite apps.

Blogging:

Tumblr (free) – A simple app with barely any functionality from the Tumblr team. It’s just enough to post a Daily Walkies photo though.

BlogPress (£1.79) – A better blogging app than the WordPress one which often crashes. Still not brilliantly designed though. A bit unintuitive and scruffy looking. Still on the look-out for something better.

Posterous (free) – Simple app for posting to Posterous blogs. I use it for Knotty Knittings.

Photography:

Camera (included) – 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording. My only camera these days.

Instagram (free) – A simple photo editing (filters and tilt-shift) and social networking app for iPhone users. Great fun and immensely popular. I just wish they’d develop an Android version to widen its accessibility.

Camera+ (59p) – I only use this to crop photos so when iOS 5 is released later this year with simple photo editing included I probably won’t use this anymore.

Hipstamatic (£1.19) – Brings the quirkiness of old school photography to your digital pics. By choosing different lenses, films, and flashes you essentially add filters and effects to your photos. A great app for lo-mo style photography lovers.

Super 8 (59p) – An app to promote the new Super 8 movie, this adds old school effects to your movies. Well designed app and another one for the creative types.

Photos (included) – Access the photos on the phone.

Tools:

Calculator (included) – Standard and scientific calculator.

Parcel (£1.19) – Neat parcel tracking app which sends push notifications when a parcel’s status changes. Simple and useful. I’ve paid for the no ads version but a free ad-supported version’s also available.

Dictionary.com (free) – Dictionary and thesaurus that works without an internet connection.

My Convert (free) – Unit conversion tool.

Flashlight (no longer available to buy but many alternatives, free and for 59p) – Turns the camera flash into a torch. Not something you value until the day you need it and then it’s invaluable!

Tally Counter (free) – A simple tally counter that I use to count stitches when knitting. Beautiful retina display graphics.

Guitar Toolkit (£5.99) – Digital tuner that I use for my ukulele.

Knitminder (£1.79) – A knitting project app that allows you to track projects, yarns, needles, and patterns. Includes note-taking, photos, a stitch counter, and more. I only wish it synced with the Ravelry website. Free trial version available.

Clock (included) – Multiple timezone clock, alarms, stopwatch, and timer.

So there you have it, a smattering of my top apps. Hope this gives some impression of what the iPhone is like to use.

Review: Why Beluga?

Beluga is a new service available for all phones with a downloadable app for iPhone and Android.

In essence it’s a messaging service that includes the ability to geotag messages and add photos. You can chat with groups of people at once in private “pods”. It’s available internationally and it’s free.

Friends are asking me why they need Beluga when they already have messaging apps. So I thought I’d blog why it’s got me hooked so quickly and, in particular, how it compares to the stuff already on your phone.

1. Facebook.
Facebook allows you to create events and send private messages to groups but the app has limited functionality so you can’t do all that from your phone. Beluga is much simpler and works from your phone.

2. Twitter.
Twitter doesn’t have group private messaging functionality. Beluga does.

3. Instant Messaging.
Instant Messaging with your client of choice (MSN, Yahoo, Skype, etc.) requires the other person to be online. With Beluga it doesn’t matter if they’re not “there” when you send them messages.

4. Text Messages.
Group messaging requires sending multiple messages. It can cost money (especially picture messaging), international friends are generally unavailable, and there’s no geotagging. Also I’ve had issues with messages being delayed. Beluga is free, global, instantaneous, built for group conversations, and has geotagging.

5. Other Mobile Apps.
Before Beluga I was using Whatsapp. It’s also apparently very similar to Blackberry’s BBM. The advantage of Beluga is it’s cross-platform so you can contact friends and family using other types of phone.

Just like text messages, you don’t need to check Beluga or log-in if you have the app. It will tell you when you’ve received a message with push notifications so you can download it and forget about it unless a friend gets in touch.

I’m using it as a replacement to texting. Quicker delivery times and I don’t need to worry about going over my text message quota per month or being charged for picture messaging.

Also I’ve got an social group chat going with three friends in the UK and one in the US.

Most useful of all is using it to ping a handful of people to arrange getting together. It allows you to add an event date, location, and time to a pod.

It does need people to download and register with the service otherwise you can’t include them in a conversation. Ignore the bad reviews in the iTunes app store, the app does work. When registering you need to enter your mobile number without the first 0. (When I registered I also added +44 and that worked for me.)

In summary, it’s a brilliantly simple replacement for texting and IMing. Unless Twitter add private group messages to their service soon I shall mostly be Belugaing!

Games: Cut The Rope Lite & Trainyard Express

Once again I thought I’d pick up a couple of new games for my iPhone rather than spend a great amount of cash on an Xbox or Wii game. This time around I went for free versions of two popular games so I didn’t spend a single squid.

(All games played on iPhone 4, your milage may vary on other models/platforms.)

Cut the Rope Lite

As of today, £0 in the iTunes app store. Full version available for 59p.

Published by Chillingo.

Available on iPhone.

• Innovative Gameplay: Combines realistic physics with simple controls by collecting the stars and avoiding the enemies and obstacles.
• Gorgeous Visuals: Colorful cartoon-style characterization lends plenty of charm to Om Nom, whose facial expressions and mannerisms never get boring.

A simple game that is made infinitely cute and fun by the storyline, music, sounds, and graphics. The goal is to feed candy to to a little green creature that’s been delivered to your door by cutting ropes, popping bubbles, and pressing air squeegies. Definitely worth getting for free and almost certainly for 59p too. I wasted a large amount of last night working through the fabric box level.

Trainyard Express

As of today, £0 in the iTunes app store. Full version available for 59p.

Published by Matt Rix.

Available on iPhone, iPad.

Another simple game but this one’s a real brain teaser. You have boxes that release trains and boxes that receive trains and you need to create train tracks inbetween so that the right coloured trains end up at the correct stations.

• Innovative and challenging puzzle mechanic
• Smooth difficulty curve
• 100 main puzzles and 50 hard bonus puzzles
• Retina support and high-res graphics on iPad
• Hundreds of ways to solve each puzzle
• Easily share your unique solutions on Trainyard.ca
• Engineered for low battery usage
• Color-blind mode
• A year in the making
• Independently developed(support indie games!)

A simple puzzle game expertly executed. Clear graphics and engaging gameplay. This game delivers a real sense of satisfaction when you complete a level and the bonus is you can share your solutions via twitter. Again worth buying for free and I expect I’ll upgrade to the full version when I complete the levels I have in the ‘lite’ one.

 

iPhone Bumper Review

Today my free iPhone 4 bumper arrived from Apple.

This is a moulded bit of black plastic that fits all the way around the edge of the phone. It completely covers the metal strip and slightly raises the profile of the device on the front and back but doesn’t cover the glass of the phone.

First impressions are that, in comparison to the phone itself which feels futuristic and high quality, the bumper feels cheap and mass produced. Also it’s not as soft and elastic as I expected. It’s actually quite hard, shiny on the side edges and slightly rubbery on the front and back raised parts.

It was very easy to fit around the phone with a little fiddling to ensure a smooth fit where it meets the glass. All the buttons and ports are still easily accessible.

I like the fact that it lifts the glass away from whatever flat surface the phone’s put on. Elimating fear of scratches to the glass or, more importantly, the camera. Also the slightly rubbery feel stops the phone sliding about. (Mine’s taken a burton a couple of times off the arm of the sofa. Shiny glass equals no grip.)

However, I’m reminded of the scene in the film Contact where they build a space flight vehicle based on specifications given to them but they decide to add a chair. The whole vehicle shakes and rattles until the pilot realises what’s happening and gets out of the chair to travel, floating peacefully, in the sphere.

The iPhone 4, in my view, is a beautiful bit of design. Yes I prefer the comfortable shape of the iPhone 3 but the 4’s flat glass sides are gorgeous to touch and look at. The alloy strip around the edge is cool to the touch and tactile where it covers the join between the two glass plates. The buttons are satisfying to click. It looks like nothing else. Well, maybe a funky paperweight in an posh art gallery.

The bumper just craps all over the beauty of the iPhone 4.

So for me It’s a choice between slightly improved practicality or the purity of the original design. I’ve left it on for now, mostly due to novelty value, but I imagine it’ll be gathering dust in a drawer before too long.