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Archive for December, 2009

Best iPhone Apps – Year End 2009

December 29th, 2009 1 comment

My iPhone is a jailbroken 3GS. Over the last year or so I’ve made some modifications to the look and feel, discovered a few tweaks and shortcuts that make it more usable, and installed (and in some cases deleted) a whole bunch of apps. Below is a snapshot of how my iPhone looks at the end of 2009. Hope you find it useful.

Look and Feel

I use Winterboard to modify the screen with a number of visual key changes (all installed via Cydia):

  • Illumine theme (not active when the screen shots below were taken)
  • Blue Apple Signal Bars
  • Helix Battery
  • RSS WiFi Orange
  • No Docked Icon Labels

And also the following mods:

  • Lock Calendar
  • Five Column Springboard
  • Five Icon Dock

System Tweaks

There are also several system changes that are installed, also via Cydia

  • dRus Strong Bad Email announcement sound
  • Snappy – fast access to camera by holding status bar
  • qTweeter – fast access to tweet by swiping down the screen
  • SBSettings – fast access to toggles by swiping across the status bar
  • Push Notifications SBSettings Toggle
  • Push SBSettings Toggle
  • Rotation Inhibitor SBSettings Toggle
  • Action Menu (with Plus Pack)
  • 3G Unrestrictor – allows various applications to work on 3G (and not just WiFi)

The Apps

Below you’ll find all the apps installed on my phone.  I’ve tagged the apps into four categories:

  1. Use them all the time
  2. Use them occasionally
  3. Installed just in case
  4. Installed but didn’t like/didn’t use and should be deleted

I’ll use this numbering scheme for all the apps below.  Also note that I’m in the middle of reordering a few screens, so a few apps appear in strange places.

First Page apps:

  • 1. Mail (built in)
  • 1. Things – to do lists
  • 1. Consistency – from Sciral – recurring to do lists
  • 1. TWC – The Weather Channel, with the Weathericon mod
  • 1. Calendar (built in)
  • 1. Safari (built in)
  • 1. Facebook
  • 1. Contacts (built in)
  • 1. Camera (built in)
  • 1. Photos (built in)
  • 1. Maps (built in)
  • 1. Messages (built in)
  • 1. Clock (built in)
  • 1. Calculator (built in)
  • 1. SplashID – password keeper
  • 1. TideGraph – tides at any location
  • 1. MyBlog – Safari shortcut to this blog (www.nickjhowe.com)
  • 1. WordPress – to administer this blog
  • 1. Wikipanion – Wikipedia look up
  • 2. iPass – prepaid access to WiFi hotspots

And in the dock:

  • 1. Phone (built in)
  • 1. Reportage – Twitter app by Wherecloud
  • 1. Settings (built in)
  • 1. iPod (built in)
  • 1. AppManager (built in)

Second Page apps:

  • 2. PicSafe – store pictures securely
  • 2. Sonos – controller for my Sonos whole house music system
  • 2. Remote (built in)
  • 2. TimeScroller – Suggests times for multi-timezone conference calls
  • 2. Skype
  • 1. AP Mobile – news from Associated Press
  • 1. NPR News – news from NPR
  • 1. USA Today – news from USA Today
  • 2. BBC Mobile – news from the BBC. Not an official BBC app – still waiting for that.
  • 4. WikiHow – app to show info from the WikiHow website
  • 2. Chase – Chase banking app
  • 2. Wells Fargo – Wells Fargo banking app
  • 2. BofA – Bank of America banking app
  • 4. Drync Wine – wine cellar app
  • 2. Tetris
  • 1. TripIt – shows travel information stored at the TripIt web site – great for frequent travellers
  • 1. FlightCaster – tries to predict whether flights will be on time (US flights only)
  • 1. FlightTracker – detailed flight info.  Can use TripIt data
  • 3. HotelsNearMe – lookup hotel availability and prices near where you are

Third Page apps:

  • 2. AutoStitch – create panoramas
  • 4. iSnapShot – create email postcards with four photos
  • 1. Camera Zoom – zoom the iPhone camera
  • 2. Photogene – Image editing
  • 2. GazoPa – search for images on the internet that look like another image
  • 2. ColorSplash – selectively add or erase color from images
  • 2. NightCamera – use the iPhone accelerometer to capture still images in low light
  • 2. SmugShot – upload images to SmugMug
  • 2. ImagePro – search the internet for images
  • 2. Cooliris – search the internet for images and display on a 3D ‘wall’
  • 2. Dictionary – internet dictionary
  • 2. SoundHound – get the name/artist of a song by ‘listening’ to the song (was Midomi)
  • 4. Bump – exchange contact details by ‘bumping’ iPhones
  • 2. BJ Run Lite – Blackjack game
  • 3. InchCalc – add/divide fractional numbers (useful for carpentry or picture hanging)
  • 2. iTunes (built in)
  • 1. Mint – online money management – (like Microsoft Money)
  • 4. QuickMark – barcode decoder
  • 3. iHandy Level – 2D spirit level

Fourth Page apps:

  • 2. TweetDeck – Twitter app; works just like the desktop version
  • 2. BrightKite – location aware social media app
  • 1. AppMiner – Lists new and on sale AppStore apps
  • 2. USA East – marine navigation
  • 2. LinkedIn
  • 2. Zillow – find home prices/homes for sale
  • 2. AppBox Lite – useful tools (currency converter, etc)
  • 3. Weather (built in)
  • 3. To Do (built in)
  • 2. iDaily – quote of the day
  • 4. HomeFinder – find homes for sale
  • 3. Google
  • 3. Tweetie – Twitter app
  • 1. Timing ’09 – Formula One official app (09 season) live qualifying/race timings
  • 3. What’s On? – TV guide
  • 4. Alarm+Clock – alarm clock!
  • 2. Meet – Webex app
  • 3. TV Listings – TV guide

Fifth Page apps:

  • 2. eBay
  • 3. Stations – UK rail network info
  • 2. Now Playing – Movie listings.  Includes Rotten Tomatoes ratings
  • 2. Boxee – remote for Boxee app
  • 4. Air Sharing – use iPhone as a wireless disk
  • 3. Cricket SC – Cricket scores from Sky TV
  • 3. MotionX GPS – full GPS with tracks, routes, etc.
  • 3. Audio Boo – record/post quick audio ‘tweets’
  • 3. Voice Memos (built in)
  • 2. POTUS – List/details of Presidents of the United States
  • 2. Amazon
  • 2. DocScanner – Save pictures of documents with keystone correction
  • 3. FlashBang – how far away is the lightning?
  • 2. FlashCards – learn info about the 50 states
  • 3. PublicRadio – listen to free radio stations
  • 4. Layar – augmented reality browser
  • 3. i.TV – TV guide
  • 4. TV Forecast – TV guide
  • 3. YouTube (built in)
  • 3. Last.fm – listen to Last.fm radio

Sixth Page apps:

  • 4. Jamd – celebrity news/pictures (interesting multi-touch interface)
  • 2. Pandora – listen to Pandora radio
  • 4. Public Radio – old version of Public radio app
  • 3. Rocket Taxi – find local taxi numbers
  • 3. Big Oven – 100,000 recipies
  • 4. Trapster – show live speed trap/police trap info
  • 3. Check Please – calculate check/bill splits and tips
  • 2. Koi Pond – excellent demo of iPhone grapics
  • 2. Dial Zero – 800 numbers of hundreds of companies, and how to bypass voice prompts
  • 3. iBird Pro – Bird database of US
  • 3. CitySearch – find local restaurants, shops, etc.
  • 2. Google Earth
  • 3. Flashlight
  • 3. G-Park – use GPS to record where you parked your car
  • 2. HJ – Human Japanese – learn to read, speak and write Japanese
  • 3. Drinks Free – thousands of cocktail recipies
  • 4. E*Trade – E*Trade app

Seventh Page apps:

  • 1. Open Table – find restaurant table availability and book
  • 4. IsaDial – Dials using calling card info.  Still broken on iPhone with Sprint
  • 2. iPhunny – jokes
  • 4. Police Scanner – listen to police radio
  • 4. Pocket Whiteboard – scribble on a mini whiteboard
  • 4. Restaurants – keep track of fast food eating
  • 3. Tracker Lite – track packages on UPS, FedEx, USPS
  • 2. Scramble – word game
  • 2. myWireless – view AT&T billing/usage info
  • 3. Spanish Anywhere – offline Spanish/English translator
  • 2. Starwalk – visual star map
  • 4. Stocks (built in)
  • 4. Roambi – Business Intelligence/Dashboard viewer

Eighth Page apps:

  • 4. Land Line – sends tones through the speaker to dial a land line hands free
  • 2. Twitterific – Twitter app
  • 3. Seafood Watch – helps avoid endangered sea food in restaurants
  • 3. iTrans Tube – London Tube maps/timing
  • 3. Compass (built in)
  • 2. Craigs Pro – Craigslist app
  • 3. Factbook 09 – CIA world country factbook
  • 2. Moonlight Lite – Mah Jong game
  • 3. uStream Viewer – viewer for uStream
  • 3. EPCOT Wait Watch – how long are the queues for the rides at EPCOT?
  • 3. Weatherbug – weather app
  • 2. Red Laser – Scan bar codes and find competitive prices on the internet

Nineth Page apps:

  • 1. Urban Spoon – Restaurant suggestions
  • 3. White Pages – residential phone number look up
  • 3. Yellow Pages – business phone number look up
  • 2. Drivers Ed – driving test questions for all US states
  • 2. Flixster – look up movie locations/times/reviews
  • 2. ISSLite – when can the International Space Station be seen at your location?
  • 4. JamBase – find local live music performances
  • 2. Labyrinth LE – game – excellent example of accelerometer
  • 2. Notes (Built in)
  • 3. Repair Pal – find local car repair locations and costs of repairs/service
  • 3. Speedtest – connection speed test
  • 3. Wifi Trak – find WiFi hot spots
  • 2. WildWest – pinball game
  • 3. iBart – routes/times for BART in San Francisco

Tenth Page apps:

  • 2. Word Warp – word game
  • 2. Crog-Mag Racer – racing game
  • 4. Tris – tetris game
  • 2. Toobz-Free – flowing water game
  • 2. Movem free – pattern matching game
  • 2. Hangman – word game
  • 2. Brick Free – blocks game
  • 2. iFighter Lite – arcade WW II fighter game
  • 2. Cross Light – crossword puzzles
  • 4. Place Tagger – GPS/timer app.  Can be used to help geotag photos
  • 4. Searchme – search using multiple search engines
  • 4. SpeedTest – connection speed test
  • 2. Sol Free – solitaire game
  • 2. Wall Street Journal – online news paper
  • 2. Yammer – like Twitter, but secure

Eleventh Page apps:

  • 2.Yelp – find local restaurants/shops, plus social media component
  • 2. Stanza – offline book reader/book database
  • 2. Sudoku – Sudoku game
  • 3. Translator – online multi-language translator
  • 2. Yowza!! – get online coupons for local stores
  • 2. Constitution – US Constitution, with notes
  • 2. qTweeter – settings for qTweeter twitter app
  • 1. Insomnia – keep wireless connection live when iPhone locks
  • 1. 3G Unrestrictor – allows any app to work on 3G, bypassing WiFi-only restrictions
  • 4. Icy – app installer – website just announced this is dead
  • 1. Winterboard – modify look and feel of iPhone
  • 1. Cydia – install non-AppStore applications
  • 4. Finder – iPhone version of Mac finder (crashes constantly)
  • 2. Terminal – terminal access to iPhone (or other computers)
  • 2. AppLinks – creates shortcuts to all installed apps in /var/mobile/AppLinks
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