Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Ctrl-Alt-Del => Topic started by: Greenbank on 26 May, 2009, 01:12:37 pm
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I gave in and got an iPhone (work are making me pay for any personal calls on my mobile so I may as well make the jump). Not allowed to transfer my old number (shame as I've had it for 10 years) but I can keep it as a work mobile.
What apps are worth it then?
Already got lots of the free ones:-
Last.fm, Shazam, Skype, MSS, Dictionary, GPSLite, iHandy Level, TubeStatus.
Any other recommendations?
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One Hundred Pushups Companion?
one hundred push ups (http://www.hundredpushups.com/iphoneapp.html)
Works on my iPod Touch too.
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National Rail - good but not perfect
if you are a shareholder/investor Bloomberg knocks spots off Stocks
could recommend more but I'm not sure what interests you!
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OK, put it another way, what Apps did you get and why?
I though there might be a core set of useful apps that people install, much like the usual plug-ins for Firefox that most people deploy.
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(Apple) Remote - to remote control an iTunes library that is being beamed around the house to an Airport Express. The iPhone displays the album cover for the current item.
LogMeIn - allows remote control of PCs and Macs from the iPhone. Expensive though, but adds a level of support for my company whilst I am out cycling ;D
Tivoli TV+ or Sky+ - allow you to set up your Sky+ box to record something irrespective of where you are
Speedometer - a silly but great fun use of the GPS.
Seismometer - a silly but great fun use of the Motion Detectors.
Missile Command - a silly but great fun use of the phone, takes you back 30 years.
Vicinity - a reasonably useful app for discovering services etc. near where you are
eBay - no explanation required
Flixster - films near you, plus reviews etc.
(Keynote) Remote - use the iPhone as a remote control for Keynote presentations, with a display of what is on the screen
Classics - free classic books in a eReader type of format
WiFiFoFum - detailed summary of wireless networks near you
that'll do for now!
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WiFiFoFum - detailed summary of wireless networks near you
Be honest now - you bought that 'cos of the name, didn't you? ;)
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Fring - chat program for MSN, Y!, ICQ GTalk etc.
UrbanSpoon - Find food near you
Air Sharing - copy any file over to your Iphone (without the dreaded iTunes) and use is as a memory stick.
Stanza - Read free book (Gutenberg Project and others)
Bablegum - a bit like YouTube but a fun way of displaying it.
Others ...
TwitterFon, FarceBook (erm Facebook), Graffitio, ITN News, Thomson Reuters, Google Earth, Here I am, Google.
Games ...
Lightsaber, I say Free, Pac-man, Labyrinth LE,
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iMapMyRide?
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Some geo apps that I use:
AirMe - Take a picture with the camera and it will upload it to Flickr or other archives with GPS derived location tagged.
Darkslide - Interface to Flickr photos, but can also return the nearest n photos to your current location. Interesting when being a tourist somewhere.
GeoTweeter - Allows twitter posting with automatic link to the location in which they were posted.
Also,
TouchTermSSH - SSH client (I use this for posting remote work email when I can't VPN).
FStream - Play UK radio (I have BBC Radios 1-6).
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Air Sharing is definitely one that I'd rate as "very useful".
TouchTermSSH - SSH client (I use this for posting remote work email when I can't VPN).
FStream - Play UK radio (I have BBC Radios 1-6).
Excellent, been wondering which one of the many SSH clients would be recommended, there doesn't seem to be much to tell them apart.
FStream is very useful too.
Happy I didn't bother holding on for the new iPhone 3G S. Looks like a chunk more money for not much else. Never been one for video (prefer to have photographs) and since when is a compass or voice control a major selling feature.
Will be happy to get cut and paste and the few other bits and bobs in just over a week when the free OS update comes out. Tethering could be useful, but not for £14 extra a month. I'd be more tempted to stump up for the development API and write my own proxy-app.
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I don't think anyone's mentioned FixMyStreet - photograph a pothole, and it gets location tagged and reported to the relevant council or whoever - a high-tech fill that hole.
I have far too many games and silly apps, mostly.
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Free: Skype, Facebook, iTunes Remote, iFractal
iFractal is a bit pointless, the rest are useful.
Paid: WhiteNoise (plays background noise at you to help you sleep), Scrabble (self explanatory)
WhiteNoise seems to be quite helpful actually. It does seem to help me switch off. After experimenting with different sounds (there are quite a few) I seem to have settled on crickets chirping.
Scrabble, well it's Scrabble, it seems to work. What more is there to say?
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I gave in and got an iPhone (work are making me pay for any personal calls on my mobile so I may as well make the jump). Not allowed to transfer my old number (shame as I've had it for 10 years) but I can keep it as a work mobile.
What apps are worth it then?
Already got lots of the free ones:-
Last.fm, Shazam, Skype, MSS, Dictionary, GPSLite, iHandy Level, TubeStatus.
Any other recommendations?
BTW, should've waited a week or two. ::-)
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BTW, should've waited a week or two. ::-)
I don't think the new iPhone really changes much, plus the new software will be rolled out to all phones anyway.
FStream is very useful too.
I looked at this, but somehow got a page in French explaining what the app was about :-\
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FStream is useful because unlike most of the internet radio apps available this allows you to get BBC radio. See BBC Radio iPhone Streams (http://www.bbcstreams.com/) for details.
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National Rail - good but not perfect
if you are a shareholder/investor Bloomberg knocks spots off Stocks
could recommend more but I'm not sure what interests you!
National Rail is way overpriced, and they prevented the free app from accessing their database (which is accessible for free via the web).
Bit of an abuse of their position, IMO. So I refused to download it and used the website instead.
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if you are a shareholder/investor Bloomberg knocks spots off Stocks
Stocks is due a big update with OS 3.0 out in two days time.
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Yes, I had the free trains app before.
However, the NR app paid for itself when I was standing on a platform at Birmingham New Street with 200 other displaced persons waiting for a train that was never going to come. I knew it was never going to come because the app told me. It also told me when the next train was. I think I was the only one of those 200 people that caught it.
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Tweetdeck has just been released for iPhone and is very cute.
I'm very pleased with the iTunes remote. Control music from the bath with the iPhone in an aquapac. :thumbsup:
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FStream is useful because unlike most of the internet radio apps available this allows you to get BBC radio. See BBC Radio iPhone Streams (http://www.bbcstreams.com/) for details.
Thank you!
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The Sky+ app is brilliant. If you have Sky+.
d.
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The Sky+ app is brilliant. If you have Sky+.
d.
Oooh.
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Right, a few more to add to the list.
Kana Flip. For learning Hiragana and Katakana, plus a few Kanji. Once you have mastered that, Kanji Flip for the full "roughly 4 million embodiments of your worst nightmares" experience. I'm ok on Hiragana now but struggling still with Katakana.
What else?
I was told by a former colleague about Ghost Race developed by his employer. He works in sales - well he made a sale. I haven't tried it yet. You can guess what it does though. Race yourself using the built in GPS, it beeps at you if you're behind the previous run. Useful for those laps of Richmond Park maybe, or on your commute, jogging route, etc. It doesn't need to even be used on the same route since it's purely distance based (though if the terrain differs then it'll be a bit tricky). Not tried it yet, will be trying to use it for my Science Park Fun Run training I think.
Of course the various hundred pushups and similar apps.
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This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_AzDO_uwz8) looks like it could be worth installing (strong constitution required, especially if using near cyclists)
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Thought I'd resurrect this since Orange and Vodafone are now doing the iPhone so no doubt lots more folk looking for suggestions (myself included). The app store isn't half full of rubbish unless you know what you're looking for.
So far I've downloaded, and liked, the usual (free) suspects, ie. facebook, skype, flickr and echofon (for twittering). Also liking WifiTrak for searching for wifi spots.
Camerabag is nice for only £1.20. I've never been a huge fan of cameras on phones and as such never used mine much in the past, and the iPhone camera is probably one of the worst on the market, but the effects and filters available with Camerabag are impressing me, turning dull snapshots into stuff worth uploading directly to flickr etc without having to muck about in photoshop. I'm already finding I'm using the camera more because of that.
Also got one called Think Ink, which as a designer is going to come in handy. Can take a sample from a photo or any chosen colour and come up with a range of colour combinations that fit, with an RGB and CMYK breakdown of each. Might be quite handy if you're looking to redecorate, take a picture of your new couch and choose some paint for the walls :P. There are more comprehensive versions of the same thing out there, but so far it's the best free one I've seen.
But the best app I've got so far, is the most expensive. £12! I never thought I'd spend that much on a phone application, but damn it's good. If you're into creating music at all, (particularly electronic/dance or variations thereof) then you really must download Beatmaker (http://www.intua.net/products.html), even for just mucking about it's worth it. For me, when coupled with the free desktop application that allows you to create your own samples/loops (though it comes with some fantastic ones already), it shows what the iPhone is capable of, ie bridging the gap between computer and phone. It's the kind of software that 5-10 years ago would have cost you £1000+ plus the cost of the computer and midi equipment to run it. But it's only 12 quid and you can carry it in your pocket! Just awesome.
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I haven't paid for an app yet.
ECB Cricket
Sky Sports Score Centre for football results
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As this thread's been resurrected, I thought I'd ask what GPS track-logging apps people recommend. A friend of mine likes MotionX, but he has an older version of the iPhone which doesn't have the compass and maps built in, so I find half of MotionX (I'm using the free version - I haven't paid for the full upgrade so far) duplicates what I've already got.
As for apps, so far I've just got free ones: Facebook, Twitterific (I signed up for Twitter yesterday. The adverts on the app are already annoying me - is there a better Twitter app out there?), Amazon, NatWest, Google, Google Earth. Oh, and Net-a-Porter - I'd heard it was a very good example of what shopping apps should look like, so I was curious. They're right - it's beautifully designed, but there's no way I would ever spend £124 on a lacy thong.
What else do people recommend for a Surrey cycle-commuting iPhone owner? I'm tempted to get the Good Beer Guide app for the "Direct me to the nearest good pub" function, but I'm going to wait until I need it before installing the free seven-day trial.
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I used tweetdeck for Twitter. Free and a nice interface. It also does facebook so there's no need to switch apps for that.
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My favourites are:Games flight control, doodlejump, fieldrunners. General aroundme, trainline, echofon, skype, whatsapp, units, TV catch up, LastFM, blurb, guitar toolkit and yesterday discovered tonepad.
I rate all those above highly. The included maps are pretty good and track your movement on the screen, around me is also useful when out on bike, in horizontal it uses an 'augemented' view which really impresses me (easily pleased maybe).
Good idea to resurrect this.
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As this thread's been resurrected, I thought I'd ask what GPS track-logging apps people recommend. A friend of mine likes MotionX, but he has an older version of the iPhone which doesn't have the compass and maps built in, so I find half of MotionX (I'm using the free version - I haven't paid for the full upgrade so far) duplicates what I've already got.
I use iMapMyRide for logging tracks, and am pleased with it. Uploads the track to MapMyRide.com
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My favourite 3rd party apps:
Instapaper to read stuff offline.
tweetie for twitter
guardian
eurosport
0870 to automatically route to calls to 0870 numbers to non chargeable numbers
camera bag
le monde.fr
weightbot
trainline
boxcar to get notifications on twitter @replies
talking carl because it just silly and keep my girls entertained.
games: rolando2, flght control, orbital, paper toss, zen bound
I used to like tvcatchup but it keeps on dropping.
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As for apps, so far I've just got free ones: Facebook, Twitterific (I signed up for Twitter yesterday. The adverts on the app are already annoying me - is there a better Twitter app out there?)
I like Twitterrific for twitter, but found the ads annoying, so went for the paid app, I think it was £2 something.
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You can now get the 10,000 word Roger's Profanisaurus as an iPhone app, which would be useful for forum use as well as to make you giggle uncontrollably on long train journeys.
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Charlie Brooker (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/18/augmented-reality-on-its-way) on augmented reality. I quite like his rather gentle fun-poking style.
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Charlie Brooker (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/18/augmented-reality-on-its-way) on augmented reality. I quite like his rather gentle fun-poking style.
Some people will say there's something sinister and wrong about all of this. They'll claim it's better to look at actual people and breathe actual air. But then they've never lived in Reading
;D
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Being able to live in Roger Rabbit's world sounds like a tempting reason to get an iPhone. Nothing to do with a weird Jessica Rabbit fantasy, of course. That would be sick and perverted.
d.
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ICE: In Case of Emergency (Appventive) (http://www.appventive.com/ice)
(http://www.appventive.com/_/rsrc/1261934879289/ice/ice_lock_new.png)
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Verity Stob's App Store • The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/18/verity_stob_app_store/)
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My wife has a game called Bee Cells (http://www.bootant.com/) on her iPhone that's horribly addictive. My high score is about 570 if anyone fancies a challenge.
d.
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Another couple to add.
Paper Toss (http://www.backflipstudios.com/papertoss/) is a highly addictive game.
Another couple of photo apps. Hipstamatic (http://hipstamaticapp.com/) turns your phone into a low-fi toy camera. Some really great filters/effects. I'm liking it very much. Format 126 (http://format126.com/Format126/Home.html) is similar to the Camerabag (http://www.nevercenter.com/camerabag/) app I mentioned previously, with the added benefit that it's free.
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iPeng - Control your squeezbox from your iPhone.
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Anyone got a recommendation for an ICE (in case of Emergency) app - there are quite a few and none seem to have votes/reviews.
I've started using Occasions to give me push notifications of anniversaries and birthdays. It tells me my birthday is coming up soon. ;D
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My wife has a game called Bee Cells (http://www.bootant.com/) on her iPhone that's horribly addictive. My high score is about 570 if anyone fancies a challenge.
d.
I couldn't sleep, read this and thought I'd download it. Now I'm all hyped up with fruit and flowers whirling about in my brain!
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US filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a documentary about the impact of poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.
After being crushed by a pile of rubble, Woolley used his digital SLR to illuminate his surroundings and snap photos of the wreckage in search of a safe place to dwell. He took refuge in an elevator shaft, where he followed instructions from an iPhone first aid app to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound, according to an MSNBC story.
The app, named Pocket First Aid and CPR, even warned Woolley not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his iPhone's alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes. 65 hours later, a French rescue team saved him.
From:
Man buried in Haiti rubble uses iPhone to survive
(http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-01/21/man-buried-in-haiti-rubble-uses-iphone-to-survive-.aspx)
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US filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a documentary about the impact of poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.
After being crushed by a pile of rubble, Woolley used his digital SLR to illuminate his surroundings and snap photos of the wreckage in search of a safe place to dwell. He took refuge in an elevator shaft, where he followed instructions from an iPhone first aid app to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound, according to an MSNBC story.
The app, named Pocket First Aid and CPR, even warned Woolley not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his iPhone's alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes. 65 hours later, a French rescue team saved him.
From:
Man buried in Haiti rubble uses iPhone to survive
(http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-01/21/man-buried-in-haiti-rubble-uses-iphone-to-survive-.aspx)
I'm amazed his iPhone battery lasted that long.
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No 3G drain. ;)
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Airplane mode; switch off when not in use. Easy.
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Airplane mode; switch off when not in use. Easy.
What and the alarm still works?
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Airplane mode; switch off when not in use. Easy.
What and the alarm still works?
Ah yes, good point - but airplane mode still saves a lot of power particularly in the case of little or no network coverage.
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Airplane mode; switch off when not in use. Easy.
What and the alarm still works?
Yes, Airplane mode, it just shuts down wireless stuff
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You can get about a week (maybe more) from a full charge of an iPhone in Airplane Mode.
I would have managed the whole of LEL on a single charge but I forgot to put it into flight mode on a couple of legs and that chewed up too much of the battery looking for a singal where there wasn't one. The phone was used for sending/receiving a few texts at each control, yacf browsing at longer stops and a few photos, and as an alarm clock on all but one of the nights.
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I just went looking for a scientific calculator app, for help with my homework. :smug:
I have just downloaded an etch-a-sketch. :-[
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I just went looking for a scientific calculator app, for help with my homework. :smug:
You get more functionality from the standard calculator if you turn the phone into landscape mode.
parens, trig funcs, hyperbolic trig funcs, inverses of those, powers, roots, reciprocal, factorial, log, ln, log2, ex, 2x, pi, deg/rad, EE and rand.
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I just went looking for a scientific calculator app, for help with my homework. :smug:
You get more functionality from the standard calculator if you turn the phone into landscape mode.
parens, trig funcs, hyperbolic trig funcs, inverses of those, powers, roots, reciprocal, factorial, log, ln, log2, ex, 2x, pi, deg/rad, EE and rand.
<turns phone sideways>
Well I never! So it does!
You just deprived someone in the App Store of £0.59. I might go and blow it on the Etch-a-Sketch upgrade. 8)
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Yeah I discovered that too. "I wonder what happens if I turn the calculator sideways". (I wanted more digits, but I got more buttons too).
Very cute feature. :)
I also found that the calculator is a bit pants with handling very small numbers, e.g.
take 0.5 and hit x2 repeatedly
when you get to 7.458xxxxx e+101, it's gone wrong.
In a "scientific" (or any) calculator that's rather poor, tbh. Maybe the app store ones aren't quite so buggy?
(Yes, I'm sad)
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Yeah I discovered that too. "I wonder what happens if I turn the calculator sideways". (I wanted more digits, but I got more buttons too).
Very cute feature. :)
I also found that the calculator is a bit pants with handling very small numbers, e.g.
take 0.5 and hit x2 repeatedly
when you get to 7.458xxxxx e+101, it's gone wrong.
In a "scientific" (or any) calculator that's rather poor, tbh. Maybe the app store ones aren't quite so buggy?
(Yes, I'm sad)
0.5 squared repeatedly shouldn't ever equal anything e PLUS 101. Minus 101, maybe.
Or is that the bug you have noticed?
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not wanting to start an unwanted debate about the merits of iphones or to cast aspersions on anybody who likes them, but my issue with iPhone apps is that they make themselves out to be some kind of new technology when they in fact aren't at all.
Most are just a java shell wrapping a browser, with a custom icon. So you're effectively paying just for an icon.
They are either simple accessors of content on the internet, i.e. basically just an internet browser configured to load a particular site, a feature that a fairly advanced smartphone should have anyway - i.e. not unique to iPhone, or a novelty demonstration of some sensor that the iPhone has got inside it.
A sensor which has probably only been included in the iPhone in the first place purely in order to fend off the charge that the apps are just accessors of content on the internet.
I would be interested to know what apps there are that don't rely on the internet or one of the movement/orientation/speed etc. sensors in the iPhone, and that offer something that a normal (smart)phone can't do.
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Most of the apps I have on my Touch are stand alone. I think some of the early apps were just "webapps" and did access internet content. But as I don't have always-on internet access, most of the things I have installed function independent of the web. Some, of course, like RSS readers, need access to download content. Location-aware stuff (like apps that tell you where your nearest bike shop is) obviously need access - but would be unfeasibly large if they didn't.
Mind you, I did have a program for my Palm that had the whole of Wikipedia squeezed into 1GB. Allegedly - but it was nevertheless pretty comprehensive.
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So you're effectively paying just for an icon.
True, but I don't bother with anything but free apps.
Many of them may just be gathering information that's already available on the web and presenting it another way, but that's what I like about them. Sky Sports Soccer Score Centre (I could just look at the BBC website), ECB Cricket (I could just look at Cricinfo's website), etc, etc. I get what I want, with much easier browsing between different bits of info, on something optimised for the size of the screen I'm viewing it on.
The ECM Cricket app is a good example. Scoreboard in portrait mode, turn to landscape mode and you get the detail scorecards, no zooming or "clicking" or visible delay whilst you wait for the info to load.
It's nothing new, after all, a web browser is just a fluffy way of displaying data grabbed over a network connection, but making sense of the raw data is nigh on impossible.
I would be interested to know what apps there are that don't rely on the internet or one of the movement/orientation/speed etc. sensors in the iPhone, and that offer something that a normal (smart)phone can't do.
I can't think of anything that has to be iPhone specific, but then the iPhone has several orders of magnitude more apps than most smart phones, all vetted, all easily downloaded from a single place (including on the phone itself).
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Most are just a java shell wrapping a browser, with a custom icon. So you're effectively paying just for an icon.
It's mostly the free ones that are like that (eg Twitter and Facebook readers, Sky+, News feeds, etc), so you're not paying anything except the data charges which you'd pay whether they were in app form or accessed by a conventional browser.
The ones you have to pay for usually have some content or feature that you can't access for free on the internet anyway, so it's the content you're paying for.
or a novelty demonstration of some sensor that the iPhone has got inside it.
My wife has a spirit level app on her iphone that fits into this category. It's very impressive as a toy but totally useless as a spirit level.
d.
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Something like the livestrong calorie counter illustrates this well - it's designed to work on a phone. It accesses the same data as you get by going to the website, but the website works best on a pc, and is probably a bit cumbersome on a phone. The app is designed to present information in a way suitable for a phone, with a completely different user interface. Also, by providing the UI in the app instead of over the web, the amount of data allowance used is much smaller since only the raw data are transferred and the overhead of all the html and javascript to implement the UI is avoided (typically the size of this will dwarf the data being displayed).
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<snip>
but then the iPhone has several orders of magnitude more apps than most smart phones, all vetted, all easily downloaded from a single place (including on the phone itself).
What is the benefit of them being "vetted"? It's not a guarantee the app will work the way it should or that it's actually finished, and it takes a long time to get a bugfix through from submission to Apple to actually available on the App store. Is it guaranteed virus free? I can't see any other benefit of "vetting" (other than to Apple).
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Airplane mode; switch off when not in use. Easy.
What and the alarm still works?
Ah yes, good point <snip/>
Ha! Tesco Value phone - alarm still works when off.
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Ha! Tesco Value phone - alarm still works when off.
I'd hope any phone would do that.
Do iPhones not ? Bit crap if so.
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I phones do. The vetting procedure just makes sure they're not malicious, that they work, are virus free, won't interfere with others and if they do access resources they do it in a while that doesn't make the system or other apps unstable.
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The vetting procedure also prevents apps like Skype from being used on 3G (it's wifi only).
This is clearly done to prevent you from making free calls over the data network. Without the vetting the business model would be broken; something else would have to happen, such as paying for all data.
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I phones do. The vetting procedure just makes sure they're not malicious, that they work, are virus free, won't interfere with others and if they do access resources they do it in a while that doesn't make the system or other apps unstable.
When you say "they work", there are numerous articles on the web where developers/companies are complaining that they released something that was buggy, and then it took >6 weeks from submission for Apple to approve the bug fixed version. So I believe the rest, especially the bits about avoiding viri and enforcing the business model, but the QC argument doesn't really wash.
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I phones do. The vetting procedure just makes sure they're not malicious, that they work, are virus free, won't interfere with others and if they do access resources they do it in a while that doesn't make the system or other apps unstable.
When you say "they work", there are numerous articles on the web where developers/companies are complaining that they released something that was buggy, and then it took >6 weeks from submission for Apple to approve the bug fixed version. So I believe the rest, especially the bits about avoiding viri and enforcing the business model, but the QC argument doesn't really wash.
The quality will be better than if people can just shove anything up with no vetting at all. It's nigh on impossible to produce bug free software, and Apple would be naive to think that they can achieve this, but weeding out the provable broken stuff is quite easy. Putting in a testing requirement means that the developers will be less likely to chuck stuff over the fence with no thought at all.
(P.S. *pet peeve* it's viruses (http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/plural-of-virus.html), 'viri' is the plural of 'vir' (man), and 'virii' just doesn't exist in Latin.)
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The quality will be better than if people can just shove anything up with no vetting at all. It's nigh on impossible to produce bug free software, and Apple would be naive to think that they can achieve this, but weeding out the provable broken stuff is quite easy. Putting in a testing requirement means that the developers will be less likely to chuck stuff over the fence with no thought at all.
(P.S. *pet peeve* it's viruses (http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/plural-of-virus.html), 'viri' is the plural of 'vir' (man), and 'virii' just doesn't exist in Latin.)
I agree about the quality being improved, but I'm not sure you can just say "they work". That's all. And the difficulty of putting bugfixes up is a significant impediment to having apps that "just work".
Fair enough. I know no latin. According to the resident expert here, the latin plural of virus might just be virus. But I'll use viruses from now on. :)
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It's only partly about quality. It's also about policing the app space to keep it clear of too many boobs, fart machines and so on. There are taste guidelines, and so on.
Apple control the experience, which means if you want an Apple experience it's a full-on Camerongasm in 3D with space elves, and if you don't, it's a dictatorship. ;)
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Has anyone seen the GTA: Chinatown wars app? It's got some very good reviews, and at only £6, it's the cheapest GTA installment I've seen. I'm awfully tempted to get it (though am currently contenting myself with killing zombies in the free Call Of Duty game).
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OK, I've had my iPhone for just a week but it has already transformed my daily train journey. These are the apps I've been using most so far...
National Rail - OK, so it's not cheap but it's worth paying for because it's so much nicer to use on the small screen than the NR website.
The Guardian and Crosswords - seems like an extravagance, but I've not had to buy a daily paper since I've had these two apps, so they've already paid for themselves. Doing a crossword on the small screen isn't quite as satisfying as doing it on paper, and there's no doodling space for working out anagrams, but it's a very neat app none the less. And it gives access to loads of other free crosswords, both cryptic and quick, not just the Guardian.
The Telegraph - not as slick as the Guardian app but it is free. I like to look at the Torygraph occasionally for a change of perspective.
Sky Sports Score Centre - looking up the football scores was one of my main reasons for using online access on my old phone. This does the job sooooo much better.
Units and a2z Pro - both unit conversion apps. I like Units better, with its neat calculator-like interface.
The Good Beer Guide - so much more convenient than lugging the weighty tome around with you. I might have to cancel my subscription to the paper version.
Flixster - movie information, listings, trailers... works brilliantly.
Yell.com - handy and free.
Sky+ - was a slight pain to set up but already proving indispensible.
This American Life - a companion app to one of my favourite podcasts. It gives access to the whole TAL archive, with the option of streaming (free) or downloading (paid) old episodes.
Amazon - neat, functional and free.
Jumsoft Money and PocketMoney Lite - personal financial management. I used to use Quicken on my desktop PC but because it is tied to a single location, I was never very good at keeping it up to date. Hopefully, one of these will overcome that problem - I've not really got to grips with either yet, so I don't know which is best.
Fstream - thanks for the recommendations upthread, folks. This is great. Just a shame you can't listen to radio while using other apps. Why won't Apple do something about making the iPhone's built-in FM capabilities available for this use?
Facebook and TweetDeck - I've never really taken to Facebook or Twitter before now, but social networking makes more sense to me when you have full mobile access.
Byline - nicely packaged interface for Google Reader. Very basic but works well.
Photobucket - makes uploading camphone pics very easy.
ShopShop and My Lists - shopping list managers. Of the two, I think I'll end up using My Lists. It seems quite versatile but I haven't really explored its capabilities fully yet. One of those that will probably become more useful the more you use it.
Assorted games - of which the ones I play most are BeeCells, Flight Control, Doodle Jump and Cogs. Frivolous but a good way to pass a train journey. I don't begrudge paying for games when they individually cost less than a pint and provide more enduring entertainment.
I've also used it as a phone occasionally.
d.
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Doodlejump! I can waste hours on this.....
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I tried Fstream with no success at all: a brief snippet of audio and that's all. Then I tried allRadio and had even less success, particularly galling as I spent 59p on it. I don't know if a 1st generation iPod Touch is the problem or not.
But the Guardian app was well worth the money.
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Can anyone recommend a To Do List/Task Manager app?
I've downloaded the free version of 2Do and I'm liking it so far. ToodleDo also looks interesting. Any others I should consider?
d.
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I just discovered the Met Office app. I actually prefer it to the website!
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If you value your free time, I'd recommend staying away from Plants vs. Zombies.
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I just discovered the Met Office app. I actually prefer it to the website!
Oooh, that's rather good. Was actually looking for something like that yesterday (I'm not impressed by the built-in weather application), but couldn't find any mention of it on the Met Office site -- didn't think to just search the App Store!
You can tell I'm new to this...
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Roughly once I week I take a look through the top
25 50 Free Apps, which is how I found MetOffice. I'm another one who never thought of searching for a weather app.
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Can anyone recommend a To Do List/Task Manager app?
I've downloaded the free version of 2Do and I'm liking it so far. ToodleDo also looks interesting. Any others I should consider?
d.
I like Evernote (http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/). It's not really a to do list kind of thing, but it is very handy for organising projects, expenses, travel arrangements etc. and has a desktop app too. I use it all the time.
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For to do I use OmniFocus. Very powerful once you understand it. :-\
There's a Mac Desktop companion app. Not sure about PC/Linux
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Ta. Evernote looks interesting. My wife uses OmniFocus but I think it's a bit overkill for my needs.
d.
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I've been using evernote recently too - though not on iPhone. Very useful for grabbing snippets of information and storing them (select some text from a web page, right click and send it to evernote - it's then available on my Mac, my work PC, anywhere with a web connection or my windows mobile).
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If you value your free time, I'd recommend staying away from Plants vs. Zombies.
Having just spent a morning in bed with my husband discussing the relative merits of peas over mushrooms for dealing with zombies I can heartily agree with this statement.
::-)
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Finally got an iPhone 3GS, I was gonna wait for the new one this year but my sis got pre-emtive on my ass and brought one for my birthday next month.
So here's my list for good apps :)
Natwest - Handy for keep track of the ol' accounts
Layer - Augmented Reality app that uses your camera, GPS and compass and overlays info like hotels, tube stations, gmaps locations etc over the cam image in 3D
iTranslate - Handy for flirting with french ladies
Chess for Free - Fun little app for playing chess with mates
Bubbles - Cos it's fun
Street Fighter IV - It's Street Fighter... On your phone!
Unit Convertor - Already been handy a few times
Team Viewer - Remote desktop to PCs and Mac :)
VLC Remote - Handy for Lazy asses
mbDriveFree - Turns your iphone into a wireless usb stick :D
FS5 Hockey - Great air hockey game
TV Catchip - It's TV on your phone!
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ZombieFarm. Free and frighteningly addictive. It's like Farmville, but with zombies. :thumbsup:
Now if you'll excuse me, I must dash. I have three patches of tomates and a headless zombie to harvest. :-[
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If you value your free time, I'd recommend staying away from Plants vs. Zombies.
Having just spent a morning in bed with my husband discussing the relative merits of peas over mushrooms for dealing with zombies I can heartily agree with this statement.
::-)
Star fruit are the best all-rounders. Loads and loads of star fruit.
I've finally got to the end of adventure mode but I still have loads of achievements to unlock...
d.
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For 'To Do' lists I'd recommend Remember the Milk - online and using the iphone app. It's really, really useful.
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ZombieFarm. Free and frighteningly addictive. It's like Farmville, but with zombies. :thumbsup:
Now if you'll excuse me, I must dash. I have three patches of tomates and a headless zombie to harvest. :-[
Cheat for Zombiefarm, do a bit a time travelling :) e.g plant something, change your time to when it is due and go harvest then change your time back and you have all the dosh you need :)
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Opera is a but fuzzy around the edges isn't it, not the usual polished standard for apps. Faster than Safari on my bog standard 3G though...
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Opera is a but fuzzy around the edges isn't it, not the usual polished standard for apps. Faster than Safari on my bog standard 3G though...
And, having read how it manages to be so fast I'll be uninstalling it.
(The actual page rendering is done on fast computers at Opera Inc, not on your phone. Massive security implications, especially with HTTPS pages which are effectively proxied. Not a bloody chance...)
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It compresses too, so you get lower quality images. Not what the iPhone screen is for!
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I've been using Mercury Web Browser Pro today. I like it's full screen browsing with proper tabs just like Firefox, and it seems much much faster than Safari too. Not sure if the speed is due to a similar set up as opera. Can't seem to find out much about that and would be disappointed if it is because as a Firefox user on the desktop I find the UI and features of Mercury much better than Safari.
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It compresses too, so you get lower quality images. Not what the iPhone screen is for!
I've noticed though that if I surf t' webs using internet tethering off my iphone, I get lower quality. Someone or something is compressing the jpegs on t' webs to a lower quality. It is probably not so noticable on the iphone's screen because the pixels are much smaller than on a monitor.
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Cheat for Zombiefarm, do a bit a time travelling :) e.g plant something, change your time to when it is due and go harvest then change your time back and you have all the dosh you need :)
Naughty, naughty wollypigs! :hand:
Thank you!
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I've started using Evernote, a free app - it is awesome.
There are 3 parts to it - the app, the online access and the on-pc program.
I use it for keeping lots of notes about roller derby training and some other stuff too. Its dead easy to use and nice and flexible and you can share evernotes easily via e-mail and synch e-mails into evernote which makes it easy for emily and I to swap training notes.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Cheat for Zombiefarm, do a bit a time travelling :) e.g plant something, change your time to when it is due and go harvest then change your time back and you have all the dosh you need :)
Naughty, naughty wollypigs!
I can't belive that such s simple and old cheat works. I was doing stuff like this when I had a C64. But it looks like the only way to win your invations is to be using your blue or red zombies but you have to pay for the blue ones. So I'm stuck at level 16 and is getting a bit bored with it now but it was fun while it was free.
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I gave in and paid for the blue tombstone — it was only a quid and change IIRC. Now on level 20, looking forward to attacking pirates on level 21. Yaargh! But I still refuse to pay for anything else, such as additional brains.
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I gave in and paid for the blue tombstone — it was only a quid and change IIRC. Now on level 20, looking forward to attacking pirates on level 21. Yaargh! But I still refuse to pay for anything else, such as additional brains.
I just know if I give in and pay for this game I will end up spending more and the snow ball effect will start and I would probally end up paying for mickeysoft, the horror. So I must stay strong and stick to much guns, pay for hardware and never pay for software :)
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I'm still yet to pay for a single iPhone app.
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All right, I've given in and am buying an iPhone and have already pre-ordered a Dahon Bike Mount (to keep it dry) and a Reecharge (to keep it running). I'm aiming to use it as my GPS on the bike.
What is the collected wisdom on GPS apps, given that downloading Google Maps might not be so easy in remote locations?
Suggestions so far include:
- CoPilot Live UK & Ireland, £26.99 (apps rating 4* / 515 ratings)
- TomTom UK & Ireland, £54.99 (apps rating 3.5* / 181 ratings)
- Navigon Mobilenavigator Europe, £69.99 (apps rating 3.5* / 525 ratings)
Anything else out there?
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I thought they were all remote loaded maps? In which case it might not make much difference in remote locations?
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Anyone know any good apps for copying my Facebook contacts to my iPhone contacts? I know there are a few that do it the other way.
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Anyone know any good apps for copying my Facebook contacts to my iPhone contacts? I know there are a few that do it the other way.
I think the way you want us how the facebook app does it.
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I tried the facebook app and we'll all it's done is add links and profile pics to the two contacts currently on the phone but not pulled anything off my facebook contacts onto the phone.
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Sorry, have never used it so didn't know.
Is this any good? - iTunes Store (http://itunes.com/apps/FriendSync)
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No worries, the issue is that you used to be able to download your contacts from facebook to your addressbook including things like profile pic, number, email, location, instant messaging details etc. But then facebook changed their terms and conditions to comply with something and as such you can no longer download the important info like number or email address though you can sync contacts, profile pics and a link to their fb page but not the actual details.
Ideally I'm not looking to add another app to go via if I wanna call someone. I guess I'm just looking for a shortcut to save me entering in all the details manually. I guess I could use ActiveSync on my Windows Mobile based SPV M3100 and then find a convertor tool and then tidy but it's almost as much work whereas I know the facebook stuff is usually upto date etc.
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Help me, I've just caved in and bought a 3GS. Can you take them back if you
regain sanity change your mind? ;)
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Yes you can within a certain number of days.
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All right, I've given in and am buying an iPhone and have already pre-ordered a Dahon Bike Mount (to keep it dry) and a Reecharge (to keep it running). I'm aiming to use it as my GPS on the bike.
What is the collected wisdom on GPS apps, given that downloading Google Maps might not be so easy in remote locations?
Suggestions so far include:
- CoPilot Live UK & Ireland, £26.99 (apps rating 4* / 515 ratings)
- TomTom UK & Ireland, £54.99 (apps rating 3.5* / 181 ratings)
- Navigon Mobilenavigator Europe, £69.99 (apps rating 3.5* / 525 ratings)
Anything else out there?
A colleague has downloaded B.icycle (http://www.b-icycle.com/home.html), which I rather like the look of. However...
You don't need to worry about poor phone network coverage with TomTom style satnav software because you've downloaded the maps in advance. I would imagine B.iCycle probably downloads maps ad hoc from Google Maps and that would be what accounts for the large price difference.
The problem with TomTom is that it's a car-focused app, so may not be as suitable for use on the bike. I don't know the other two apps you mention but I suspect the same applies.
I was wondering how the iPhone's GPS compares to a dedicated device - so here are a couple of the results Google throws up when you do a search for "iphone vs garmin":
Should've bought a Garmin? Testing the iPhone 3G's GPS capabilities — Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/14/shouldve-bought-a-garmin-testing-the-iphone-3gs-gps-capabilit/)
Garmin vs iPhone GPS - Mountain biking - Everytrail (http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=63703)
See also Cyclemeter (http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/) and BikeMateGPS (http://bikemate.01mia.com/wp/), both of which are cheaper than B.iCycle but don't get such favourable reviews.
d.
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NHS Drinks Tracker for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad on the iTunes App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/nhs-drinks-tracker/id334559441?mt=8)
(Adds 13.6 units from last night.)
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Big ones for me:
PlaceTrack - our family watches where we are on google latitude via this app.
Facebook
BBC News
iTunes remote - remote control iTunes on your PC from the phone
WeatherPro from meteogroup. Premium app, but by far the best weather forecaster out there, IMO. German of course.
SoundHound (like Shazam, but better)
Sleep Talk - records if you talk in your sleep.
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iTunes remote - remote control iTunes on your PC from the phone
Love this, especially now we've got the Airport Express set up - it means I can stream music from my PC in the office to play through the kitchen speakers, using my iPhone to browse my iTunes library. I feel like I'm living in the future at last.
Really need to get an Airport Express for every room in the house, then my joy will be complete.
d.
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Sleep Talk - records if you fart in your sleep.
THat's a bit more accurate.
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iTunes remote - remote control iTunes on your PC from the phone
Love this, especially now we've got the Airport Express set up - it means I can stream music from my PC in the office to play through the kitchen speakers, using my iPhone to browse my iTunes library. I feel like I'm living in the future at last.
Really need to get an Airport Express for every room in the house, then my joy will be complete.
d.
If you upgrade to iOS 4.2 then you can stream direct from the iPhone and leave the PC switched off.
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Yes, but you can't get 40BG of music on an iPhone :)
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Yes, but you can't get 40BG of music on an iPhone :)
Smart playlists are your friend.
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If you upgrade to iOS 4.2 then you can stream direct from the iPhone and leave the PC switched off.
True. Indeed, I was doing that only yesterday afternoon - I'd started listening to a podcast on my headphones and finished listening to it in the kitchen while I cooked dinner.
My iTunes library is stored on a standalone network drive, though the database is on my PC. The ideal would be to have the iTunes library connected to the home network independently of my PC. Am I right in thinking you can do this with an Apple TV or an Airport Extreme base station?
d.
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I've started using Stitcher a lot, very good for getting podcasts on the fly
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I love Rowmote Pro :) Remote Control/Mouse for my laptop.
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What is the benefit of them being "vetted"?
'Dodgy Android apps are breaking our phones' - Motorola • The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/06/android_motorola/)
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What is the collected wisdom on GPS apps...
A colleague has downloaded B.icycle (http://www.b-icycle.com/home.html), which I rather like the look of.
See also Cyclemeter (http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/) and BikeMateGPS (http://bikemate.01mia.com/wp/), both of which are cheaper than B.iCycle but don't get such favourable reviews.
Revisiting this thread because I've just started using the RunKeeper website & iPhone app. The great thing about RunKeeper is that it's free. The only downside when using it on the commute is that it doesn't stop recording when you stop at the lights. It also doesn't let you record which bike you're using (not sure if any of these type of apps do).
Cyclemeter has an auto-stop function, and the current version gets universally good reviews on the iTunes store. Might be worth spending £2.99 on.
Reviews for the current versions of BikeMateGPS and B.icycle are mixed.
iMapMyRide looks good too but... I was going to sign up to the MapMyRide website and saw that you can sign in using various social networking options. I started the sign-up process using my Twitter account and it said it wanted access to my direct messages. Er, no, thanks. So I tried to sign up using my Google account and it said it wanted access to my contacts. You're joking, right? I gave up after that.
As for other apps...
TuneIn Radio is good - like Fstream but slicker, easier to use and with a nicer interface.
Strategery is another horribly addictive game. Like a simplified version of Risk. If you like Risk, you'll like Strategery.
Other games I like: GlassTower2, Trainyard, Cogs, Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Colorblind, Coin Drop, Surveillant, Tiny Wings, Monster Dash, Fruit Ninja
2 Across is my current crossword app of choice. Mainly because the one I was using before stopped working. An excellent companion to this app is Anagram - not a cheat app, it doesn't solve anagrams for you, it just lets you enter the letters, which you can then move around and rearrange on the screen like Scrabble tiles.
Echofon is current twitter client of choice.
Starwalk is of limited use but is brilliant at what it does - an augmented reality stargazing app.
I've recently downloaded the RingGo app for cash-free payment in Pay & Display car parks. Would be great if it worked, but it doesn't.
d.
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What is the collected wisdom on GPS apps...
A colleague has downloaded B.icycle (http://www.b-icycle.com/home.html), which I rather like the look of.
See also Cyclemeter (http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/) and BikeMateGPS (http://bikemate.01mia.com/wp/), both of which are cheaper than B.iCycle but don't get such favourable reviews.
Revisiting this thread because I've just started using the RunKeeper website & iPhone app. The great thing about RunKeeper is that it's free. The only downside when using it on the commute is that it doesn't stop recording when you stop at the lights. It also doesn't let you record which bike you're using (not sure if any of these type of apps do).
Cyclemeter has an auto-stop function, and the current version gets universally good reviews on the iTunes store. Might be worth spending £2.99 on.
Reviews for the current versions of BikeMateGPS and B.icycle are mixed.
iMapMyRide looks good too but... I was going to sign up to the MapMyRide website and saw that you can sign in using various social networking options. I started the sign-up process using my Twitter account and it said it wanted access to my direct messages. Er, no, thanks. So I tried to sign up using my Google account and it said it wanted access to my contacts. You're joking, right? I gave up after that.
As for other apps...
TuneIn Radio is good - like Fstream but slicker, easier to use and with a nicer interface.
Strategery is another horribly addictive game. Like a simplified version of Risk. If you like Risk, you'll like Strategery.
Other games I like: GlassTower2, Trainyard, Cogs, Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Colorblind, Coin Drop, Surveillant, Tiny Wings, Monster Dash, Fruit Ninja
2 Across is my current crossword app of choice. Mainly because the one I was using before stopped working. An excellent companion to this app is Anagram - not a cheat app, it doesn't solve anagrams for you, it just lets you enter the letters, which you can then move around and rearrange on the screen like Scrabble tiles.
Echofon is current twitter client of choice.
Starwalk is of limited use but is brilliant at what it does - an augmented reality stargazing app.
I've recently downloaded the RingGo app for cash-free payment in Pay & Display car parks. Would be great if it worked, but it doesn't.
d.
Parkmobile works brilliantly in Basingstoke for cash-free payment in pay and displays. Checked it out with a Parking Attendant as i was a bit wary of walking away with no ticket in the car - they get a list on their mobile of who is registered and from when. Works a treat. I know they operate in other towns as well, website should have the list.
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iMapMyRide looks good too but... I was going to sign up to the MapMyRide website and saw that you can sign in using various social networking options. I started the sign-up process using my Twitter account and it said it wanted access to my direct messages. Er, no, thanks. So I tried to sign up using my Google account and it said it wanted access to my contacts. You're joking, right? I gave up after that.
You don't need to use Twitter or Facebook for MapMyRide you can just create a username and password. Other than a weekly email I get very little from them.
I've been using it both as a training tool and for route planning and think it's a great app. Definitely suggest that you give it another go
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http://download.cnet.com/xSensor/3000-2094_4-11307237.html
This one's interesting. It's a free app that lets you see the outputs from the accelerometers & magnetometers in a 3GS and upwards
You can wander round and find geomagnetic anomalies :)
I wonder what it would make of a super conducting magnet...
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Pony Unicorn Astronoaut (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pony-unicorn-astrounaut-free/id503922156?mt=8&affId=1503186)
Now you command a mighty Pony Unicorn that braves the space only with his magical powers and his Astronaut Helmet with WiFi antenna. You won't something crazy like this on App Store!
Unmissable.
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FStream is useful because unlike most of the internet radio apps available this allows you to get BBC radio. See BBC Radio iPhone Streams (http://www.bbcstreams.com/) for details.
Thank you!
Thread necromancy time.
Does anyone know if there's a version of this app for ios 6.1.3?
Or another app which'll let me stream BBC6 music?
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Tunein radio is my app of choice for such things.
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There is an official BBC Iplayer app that lets you stream radio.
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I also use Tunein Radio. I find it often works better than the official BBC iPlayer app, which occasionally hangs (probably due to my crap internet connection at home - Tunein gives you a choice of streaming quality and I usually choose the lowest quality available).
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Coming up to 4 years of iPhone ownership and I still haven't bought a single app. All installed apps have been the free ones.
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At a guess, I've probably spent something like £100 on apps over a similar period. It's far too easy to do at 69p a time - though I've paid considerably more than that for some apps, if I thought they were really worth it.
£25 a year isn't too much of a hardship. It's a tiny sum compared to what I spend on the contract.
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Don't ever download doodlejump, no, just don't :demon:
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Coming up to 4 years of iPhone ownership and I still haven't bought a single app. All installed apps have been the free ones.
I look to you as my role model. ;)
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If you need to read a lot of PDFs then PDF Expert is very good (paid app) but I recommend an iPad not an iPhone.
AmpLitube is a brilliant if you have an electric guitar. It emulates loads of amps, cabinets and stomp boxes plus you can get an 8 track recorder. There is a free version with a single amp and the a paid for version with more. Loads of tempting in app purchases though so be warned (such as a licensed Fender pack with a Supersonic, Blues Junior etc). You need an iPad or iPhone to guitar interface (I use an iRig stomp).
(http://www.ikmultimedia.com/joomla/images/ik_images/product_page/amplitubeipad/img351/ipad3rd_front_cropped_351_at2.9_right_lead.jpg)
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Otter is excellent for speech-to-text transcription - amazing if, like me, you're the kind of person who'd like to use a dictaphone but can't be arsed to listen back through your recordings.
Google Translate really comes into its own when you point the camera at text...
Garmin Connect and Strava, obviously.
Tesco Clubcard because you need it to get Clubcard Plus benefits (yes, I've sold my soul to the Church of Tesco).
Night Sky is a neat stargazing app.
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also Tiny Scanner...