To App or Not To App?

[Priya Bhakta]

I have a confession to make; I have an iPhone and it has no apps.

This spurred the question from a friend 'why have an iPhone if you don't use apps - that's the point of an iPhone' (is it?!?!).

In fact the reaction I get from having no apps is quite odd like I'm doing the iPhone a great disservice. I don't not have apps out of principle - it's just I've never used the iTunes store (actually a lie, I used to get a couple of podcasts but got annoyed when they kept downloading everytime I opened up iTunes and I cancelled them once Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out). I do have, somewhere in the black hole of my room, an iTunes voucher and keep intending to buy some apps with it.... anyway, this turning into more of a blog than a discussion, I wanted to ask what apps you use, what your favourite apps are and what draws you to them as well as anything else you might want to provide.

[Matt Johnston]

Hm, this is an odd one.

I Tweet a lot from several accounts so I have Tweetie (especially now it has Twitlonger support - written by a friend of mine).
2 Byline - get your Google Reader news items on your phone and offline
3 Allowance - keep track of how much O2 are screwing you this month

The rest (LightBike, Galcon, Low Grav Racer) are either games, entertainment, telling me where movies are on and when, or social network apps like LinkedIn, Facebook, Locle.

[Marc Tanenbaum]

I have an iPod Touch and I'm a bit cheap, so all my favourite apps reflect those facts (they're all free).

Stanza (eBook reader), Twitterific Lite, Files Lite (wifi file transfer...excellent for grabbing PDFs for reading...it's where I keep my Lothian Bus map), Remote (controls iTunes from my iPod), WikiTap (Wikipedia access), Public Radio (access to [American] National Public Radio streaming), Facebook, Google Earth.

[Priya Bhakta]

I was considering Tweetie. At the moment whenever I want to do anything online (twitter and other social networking) I just use the mobile web which obviously has its problems. Was there a reason you chose Tweetie over other Twitter-related apps?

Matt Johnston said:

Hm, this is an odd one.

I Tweet a lot from several accounts so I have Tweetie (especially now it has Twitlonger support - written by a friend of mine).
2 Byline - get your Google Reader news items on your phone and offline
3 Allowance - keep track of how much O2 are screwing you this month

The rest (LightBike, Galcon, Low Grav Racer) are either games, entertainment, telling me where movies are on and when, or social network apps like LinkedIn, Facebook, Locle.

[Priya Bhakta]

I hadn't heard of Stanza before it looks great. Thanks for the recommendation.

Marc Tanenbaum said:

I have an iPod Touch and I'm a bit cheap, so all my favourite apps reflect those facts (they're all free).

Stanza (eBook reader), Twitterific Lite, Files Lite (wifi file transfer...excellent for grabbing PDFs for reading...it's where I keep my Lothian Bus map), Remote (controls iTunes from my iPod), WikiTap (Wikipedia access), Public Radio (access to [American] National Public Radio streaming), Facebook, Google Earth.

[David MacDonald]

I've seen colleagues who are onto 5 and 6 pages of icons on their iPhone because they have filled it with mince from the app store. I rebuilt my device earlier this month and now only have the following apps;

Speed Test; Allows me to check my service speed either on Wi-Fi or 3G
BA Flights; Get the latest flight info and check in using your iPhone - works really well
iPint; The ubiquitous "first app" and the one that made all your mates in the pub go "oooh"
Last.fm; Dunno why I have this, never used it
Urbanspoon; Yeah I saw the advert and thought I'd give it a go. It isn't bad in fairness
Backgrounds; Browse and grab new wallpapers for your iPhone
Google Earth
Facebook
And of course the fantastic audioboo

've got a few games on too that I play when I'm board on the London shuttle

[Matt Johnston]

Priya Bhakta said:

I was considering Tweetie. At the moment whenever I want to do anything online (twitter and other social networking) I just use the mobile web which obviously has its problems. Was there a reason you chose Tweetie over other Twitter-related apps?

Tweetie is multiple-account aware. So I can tweet as @cimota, @digitalcircle, @nimug and eventually as @nomadicgames all from the same app.

To be honest, I think TwitterFon is a better Twitter client for the single-account Tweeter.

[Damien Smith]

Evernote, especially it's photo note ability. /// OmniFocus - for the GTDers out there /// London City - invaluable interactive tube guide /// reQall - audio notes and reminders emailed to you /// Truphone - skype-like tool for wifi phone access /// Flashlight - is exactly that, think it's a gimmick and then you find yourself using it all the time! + Tweetie, Simplify, TED talks, Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies + Bloom... there's more - I've 6 pages of the stuff!

[Darcie]

I'm going to have to go with many they've said before. I use Tweetie religiously. I think it's great, quick and easy to navigate (multi-user or not) and it's the only app I've paid for (.99p).

Also Facebook, Wordpress (blogging), netnewswire (rss feeds), Shazam and was just told about this great one, FlickIt, to upload pics from your phone to Flickr, giving you your sets and tags as well. Also LinkedIn, Evernote and (another new one) Around Me (find anything wherever you are).

I also UrbanSpoon, a variety of games, silly things and traslator tools.

I find they come in handy, but the whole phone & apps in general is causing me to miss life passing me by. Too busy looking at the screen to stare out a window and enjoy the view!

[David Hamilton]

Bloons is my favourite App but its kinda got to be, haha! Nah getting really good reviews and it is really addictive! http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=3... :-D

[Stuart Cosgrove]

A report in the http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/tec..." target="_blank">Times confirmed earlier reports that Apple is facing US regulatory scrutiny ‘for alleged monopolistic practices’ relating to its iPhone App Store. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has written to Apple, its US carrier AT&T and Google after Apple refused to allow a Google iPhone App. The FCC has demanded to know which other applications have been refused - and why. US analyst David Course said: “Apple has never been looked at seriously by regulators before. Apple was always the underdog. Now Apple has become a dominant force in the market and competitors are showing up in the smartphone space. The idea is that someone might say ‘let’s look at the whole thing’ isn’t impossible.”

[Graham Maclachlan]

There is only one app. Blipfoto for iPhone Perfect for a 365 photo project, easy to use and free - what more could you ask for?

[Coll Maclean]

Wow !! Another like me that thinks APPS have gone overboard & some are really crap....................I find the iphone a great Business Tool as it saves me carrying a laptop to access\my e.mails & is the only phone that works for me having already tried several other models that ofered e.mail but DID NOT work........Sorry this sounds like advert for iphone, !!! the most relaxing one is Pebbles with nmusic, helps me get to sleep after a busy day with the days thoughts still in your head.........silly I know but it works,..The Torch is great one for use in Hotels if you need to get up in middle of night & dont want to put bedside lights on....weather very useful both here & abroad & is fairly accurate.......Maps good one if you not got SAT NAV or are walking towns you dont know.......voice memo good for short messages .........any others a matter of taste ,some people put a lot of silly games on but you get ired of them Prob for Kids ) not business........that my initial thoughts..........I working on some ideas for business at present................Regards to all