What's On My iPhone

For those new Verizon iPhone owners I figured it's time to update this from my last list in July.

Echofon - my favorite twitter client. Free with ads, which aren't bad (the ad-free version is $5 which seems high though I just bought it on sale for $2). Does location, pics, completion, lists, searches, etc. I like it better than the official Twitter app (formerly Tweetie) because you can click on links directly in the main list instead of having to first select a specific tweet. Also it syncs with the desktop client which is fantastic. I don't know why this isn't the most popular Twitter client.
Facebook - works reasonably well for keeping up with facebook. Wish it supported groups
LinkedIn - I have it but don't use it much.
Faces Lite - lets you create up to two pages showing pictures of up to 12 contacts on each. Clicking can start a phone call, text message, email, map of their address, or whatever else you want. Works much faster for me than going to one of the apps (Phone, Mail, Messages) directly. This is the free lite version, the $2 version gives you up to 14 screens though development seems to have stopped. I love this, but I can't necessarily recommend it for others.

Instapaper - I use this app to access the web service that saves articles for later viewing. It's a great app for reading, with tilt scrolling and nice formatting.
Reeder - I use this to read RSS feeds. It syncs with Google Reader and there's a beta version of a mac desktop client that I'm using now. It's much better than NetNewsWire on the iPhone. It's fast and it has support for Instapaper and tweeting and facebook and other services. Great app.
Simplenote - I use this all the time for keeping quick text notes. There's a free web service and they have this native iPhone app. They have an API that various desktop clients support. I use Notational Velocity on the mac. The syncing is fast and wireless. It's great to take notes on the desktop and having them on the iPhone. I collect notes for shopping, brands I like or to try, and well reviewed menu choices for restaurants. Now supports tags.

Google - I use the voice search all the time and it works great, almost never makes an error.
Wikipanion - great formatting of wikipedia pages and does completion so you don't have to type out the whole search. I use the free version. I bought Articles on sale and don't like it as much as Wikipanion.
IMDb - Does well for movie info searches and formats things nicer than just surfing to the web page, but doesn't include all the info (though there is a link to display in Safari)
Wolfram - I don't use it much but lately I've been using it to find when the ISS is visible or when sunset is. The web site works well, but the app does better at knowing where I am which helps in those searches.

Yelp - Good for getting restaurant and business reviews, phone numbers, locations, etc.
Grocery iQ - I've been using this for a few months and it works pretty well. It's a nice grocery list app, with favorites, stores with custom aisles, and bar code scanning. Was easy to populate with items I buy and sort them store. I used HandyShopper on the Palm and this is the closest I've seen to it. If you give yourself time to populate it all it becomes much easier to use.
Lose It! - Pretty good for keeping track of calories and exercises and is free.
Amazon - I use this all the time when shopping to check prices and reviews of a product before buying it. Great feature is that you can take a picture of the product, upload it and amazon will figure out what product it is and link to the page usually within 30 seconds.. Works best on books but also on other things. Also gives access to wish lists. They also have a PriceCheck app and there's Google Shopper too.

NYTimes - I had problems with early versions, but the current one works well.
NPR News - Yes, you can get audio stories but this is also the app I turn to for text news.
AP Mobile - I use this occasionally but mostly for notifications of late breaking news. It's only about once a day but it's a little more than I'd like. Still it's good for finding out about tsunamis and revolutions.
Economist - A great app that downloads whole issues quickly and formats the articles simply and well.

WeatherBug - my favorite weather app. There's a free version and I bought the full one (I don't remember the difference and it was cheap). Shows forecasts and animated radar maps.
Bloomberg - great market info
Flixster - I used to use Now Playing for movie times but it seems to have died (no updated info). This works almost as well showing info by theater or movie and upcoming films. Also gives access to my Netflix queue and integrates with Facebook and lets you buy tickets (which I haven't used it for).
Sportacular - Gives me enough info about the sports I do follow and let's me know if local teams are playing in town so I can avoid traffic.

AppBox Pro - a collection of little utilities like a flashlight, tip calculater, battery meter. Cheap (there's also a free lite version I think) and replaced a number of apps, but I don't use it that much.
Solve - a cute calculator that lets you draw numbers and operations with your finger. Surprising good for quick calculations
PCalc Lite - a free RPN calculator
Tip Box - a tip calculator that does bill splits, rounding, tips without tax and even separating out drinks from food.
Ultralight - a free flashlight that uses the LED flash on the iPhone 4
ManyTimer - Supports multiple timers and is free
Now iSee It - it's like reading glasses for your iPhone. Uses the camera but can magnify the image 2-4x.
Google Translate - Just got it but could be useful when traveling.

Soundhound - Was originally Midomi and my choice for hearing a song playing and telling me what it is
Remote - a free iTunes remote from Apple. Works great when sitting in the living room away from my mac which is streaming to the stereo speakers over the AirPort Express
Pandora - everyone else uses it but I rarely do, I really should use it more

GoodReader - great reader that can handle very large PDFs with tons of well explained options. Also can read many other formats. I have some documents to read and maps to look at in it. I set it up as a file server and copy files over via the Finder, there are other ways too
Dropbox - a great web service for syncing files across various machines. Easy way to put files on your iPhone. I use SimpleNote much more than this but I don't have work files to deal with.
Kindle - I wouldn't want to read a book at home on my iPhone, probably on an iPad. Instapaper gives me plenty of long articles to read on the phone. But if I used a Kindle this would be a great additon

Starmap - my favorite astronomy app and by far the most expensive app I've bought ($12). I've even bought the iPad version already while it's on sale for $1 for when I do get an iPad at some point in the future. On an iPhone 4 (and 3GS) it's great with the compass, just hold it up and it shows you what's in front of it. I also use the Tonight feature to see what's interesting to look at. Great app. Stellarium is a free alternative.
iCSC - Shows a graphic representation of how good the viewing conditions are at night. Basically you want the squares to be darker and if so it's worth looking at the stars.
NASA - Nice news on various missions and great images of the day.

I don't play a lot of games an tend to play quick puzzle like ones. Since the last version of this list I've been playing very different games

Canabalt - Your character runs to the right along roof tops, you push to jump over gaps. Amazingly addictive and quick to play. As soon as you die, you click again to try again.
Flood-It 2 - Nice color puzzle. Much easier to play than to describe
Galcon Labs - I used to play the Risk-like Strategery. This is somewhat similar. There's a random board with various planets. You start off with 100 units on one world and move them to others to conquer them. Your computer opponent starts on another world and does the same. Quick and fun and hard at the higher levels. Variations make the world move around.
Call of Atlantis - A good bejewled clone
Angry Birds - The iPhone craze. Use a slingshot to shoot birds at building blocks and pigs. Many levels that get harder and harder. It's fun but I don't understand the craze for it.
Cut the Rope - Another puzzle game with levels
Fruit Ninja Lite - slice through fruit that seems to be bouncing up from a trampoline. Don't slice the bombs. Harder than it sounds.
Doodle Jump - Your little guy jumps up onto platforms. Tilt the iPhone to kinda aim him.
Osmos - Merge blobs together to make the biggest blob.

So what else is there that should be on my iPhone?