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… so you’ve just got an iPhone and since the app store is a living breathing organism, how the heck do you find what you need? Best advice that I can hopefully give you is, try the free apps before you buy! This may seem like an obvious thing, but believe me, I have been seduced by an icon or two in my time and it starts to add up pretty fast.
There always seems to be one more app, with more features, more functions, more, more, more…
So with that in mind, start with the free versions, and maybe a few similar types until you find one that fits for you. Then I try to stick with the app for a while. Keep in mind a lot of the apps get frequent updates and ditching an app because it doesn’t have your *essential* feature doesn’t mean it won’t ever have it. Very often developers are asking for your comment and improvements so always let them know if there is a feature or some functionality you would like!
The following apps are ones that you may find useful to start with – in no particular order
1. Evernote. 
FREE This is great as an app. Really quick simple interface to make a new Text, Snapshot, Camera Roll or Voice note. The notes are then saved and you can access the notes you have made, on your computer (on ANY computer by going to the Evernote website). You can also favorite notes for fast reading.
2. Shazam. FREE Featured on most sites for how fabulous this is, this app lives on my home screen. When a song plays and you want to know what it is, launch Shazam and it will identify it for you. Songs identified are saved for you and even if you have no Internet connection, it will save the captured music and then recognize it later. One of my all time favorites. On a side note MusidID & Lyrics is fast becoming my second favorite, it has the same function as Shazam, but gets you the lyrics as well! Oh YEAH!
3. Skype FREE is a great addition to the iPhone. You can of course use their chat features which is great but where it really makes me sing it’s praises is the ability to make voice calls over wifi! This is fantastic and especially when traveling abroad I used it tonnes! They also have paid for services and monthly deals so it is worth checking out. You can make calls to landlines, mobiles and computer connections.
4. IM, AIM etc etc… so many to choose from and they eac
h have their own apps too. All free of course but it can start to take up space on your device. I’ve been trying an app called Palringo Lite FREE and this lets you connect to all those services within one app. A real space saver. You can set your status for each service, so you could be invisible for AIM yet in a meeting for MSN. You can add Windows Messenger, Yahoo, AOL IM / AOL ICQ, Gadu, Jabber, Facebook Chat and Google Talk. *phews* that’s a lot of talking!
5. A Twitter app will be down to your individual choice, I am still preferring Echofon (formerly Twitterfon) and TwitBird Pro , but you should maybe try a few free versions and then choose for yourself. Again, might be best to try their free versions first. (We all have different ways of using the service and different needs from the app so see what fits you the best.)
6. Photoshop.com FREE is an editor that pretty much can do everything that you would need to for your photos. You can alter colors, and other basic editing to them.This app seems to be able to do everything that you can find in other photo editor apps, but all rolled into one. I tend to not edit my images on my device anyway but for the folks that do, this easily is the essential app. Especially at that price!
7. SnapTell FREE is a nice little app that lets you take a photo of a product (book, cd…) and then gives you information about it such as pricing and where you can buy it.
Handy to have if you are looking at purchases and want to decide before you buy.
8. Flixster FREE helps you to find movies playing near you. It also has all the latest trailers, and all movie information you could ever possibly want (and more!). There are now even actor profiles and extended information. Movie ratings, what’s upcoming, DVD, you can make lists, of what you want to see, ones you’ve rated, friend ratings, Facebook / Flixster / Netflix integration.
9. TVGuide.co.uk (for the UK one) FREE works a treat, shows you now & next on the channels. You can click on the channel and read briefly about the show. If it is on iPlayer or some other Internet site it will take you to that webpage to watch it. The app is a little basic, and I would like to be able to add reminders or save favorites but hey, it’s free and let’s me have a quick look at what’s on. LocateTV seems to have a bit more to it but I don’t like the interface as much.
10. AppSniper $0.99 is an app to help find apps and shows you when they are on sale or free. This is a great way to find out about apps and you can mark the apps you are interested and get notified when they are free / on sale. There are a few of these style of apps but this one is still my favorite.
11. Mover Lite FREE is the ideal quick way to transfer things between iPhone/Touch users. It’s a free app so everyone can have it, and all you need to do is launch the app and it will find your friends near you. It shows them (4 at a time is possible) and then you just flick images, contacts etc straight to their phone. A fun, efficient way to send things to another device.
Eleven FANTASTIC Apps that are sure to get you started with tonnes of great functionality for your new device! And the best part is the are ALL FREE! Had to add this last one which does cost cash but you might want to consider it if you have a website that you track with Google Analytics:
*bonus* Analytics $5.99 is a great app for anyone who has Google Analytics tracking their sites visitors. It makes it easily accessible, and I prefer it by far to their web interface. It is easy to use, and I find I only use the app now rather than go to google, an app that is better then the original site makes it really worth having even at that price.
Here are a few games, they are a mix of free and paid for, but most of the free ones you can then decide to upgrade to the paid versions if you enjoyed them. Keep in mind that games can be a pretty individual thing cause we all like different types so I’ve tried to include a variety. You may want to chose one or two from my list. Careful ~ you may find yourself playing for longer then you intended!
1. The Deep FREE is a pinball game that seems perfectly suited to the iPhone. You could try this one and they also have a WildWest style one (their first one) which is also worth a play.
Game play is addictive enough that you want more, but also that you know you can just nip on for a game or two. I still think it’s the best pinball game on the App Store.
2. HarborMaster $0.99 is a fun game that they keep updating. It’s seriously FUN! You have to dock the boats and unload the cargo. Simple? Easy? You may be surprised. It also uses the touch screen of the device so well which is anther reason I just love this game. You may want to look at FlightControl, which was the original to start this style of gameplay and is still fantastic, as well as CarMania which is again the same style but just as tops as the other two.
3. Spider $2.99 is beautiful. You are a spider trying to catch its meal, you have to make webs to trap them. Each level is so absolutely beautiful and atmospheric that I found myself almost liking spiders after playing it! Really worth having a look at, the movement of the spider is so realistic and just a perfect example of a developer caring about executing an extremely high standard.
4. BedBugs Lite FREE has been a long standing favorite of mine, and I have completed all levels, gotten my gold stars, and I just want more. That is the only flaw with this game, it really needs an infinity level. Again the design is fantastic and imaginative and you will find yourself using both hands at times to figure out how the heck to protect yourself as you sleep walk. Genius. Have a try of this free version to see if you love it as much as I do.
5. Sallys Spa FREE is a nicely designed game that is good for all ages. You have a spa and you have to manage your time to serve the customers according to what treatments they want. Lots of upgrades and fun levels, be warned though, once you start playing it is very hard to put down.
p.s. not just for girls!
6. Lux Touch FREE was one of the first games I had on my iPhone. It may have actually been the first! I still love it. This is basically a really simple risk style game. They do have a paid version called Lux DLX but somehow it misses the point of the simple free one. I have them both but I still play the free one a lot more.
7. Fieldrunners $2.99 is the game everyone should own. This tower defense may actually be the best there is, Tower Madness FREE (Zero is the free version) is a close second with it’s 3D view, but you should give this a try if you like defense style games. It’s fun, it’s addictive, needs a strategy and it’s worth every penny!
Field Runners:
Tower Madness:
8. Assassins Creed FREE This is an example of some of the heavier hitting games that they are bringing to the iPhone. This game, Doom and other similar titles have made their way to the device and it is worth having a look at. They are modified to work well on the phone so are a different experience from the XBox / PSP styles but its great to see them and I’m sure they will only get better.
Hope you find those a useful selection to get some quality apps on your device. There are so many more styles and types of games to list, word games, the board game styles, etc… I will put others in a different post another day~
There are plenty of exercise and training apps, books / comics, wifi style of apps to transfer your documents and so much more! I could keep writing for days but I’m guessing you want to get straight onto that iPhone of yours and get playing!
~ Christine
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i always download games from bittorent and emule. “`.
Hello, I also like the Toy Story movies, awesome film!