Now that I’ve had my iPhone for nine months and have had time to get to know it better, I can say for sure that it is one of my very favorite gadgets ever. I never thought I’d get so attached to a cell phone. But unlike previous handsets, I can’t seem to go more than 10-15 minutes without taking this one out of my pocket. And with the release of the new 2.0 firmware and the Apps Store, that time appears to have been cut in half. (Though given the spotty 3G performance and connectivity issues, I plan to sit out the hardware upgrade for now.) Speaking of, I wonder if Apple may have shot themselves in the foot here a bit? That is, if the 2.0 firmware had been made available only for the new 3G hardware, being the gadget whore I am, I might have been one of those dolts standing in line on July 11^th. But having all the great (and not so great) third party apps at my fingertips, I feel like I DID purchase a brand new handset. I have graduated from posting embarrassing, self-incriminating tweets on Twitter (from the restroom) to playing muted sessions of Crash Bandicoot, Trism, Mahjong, Sudoku, etc.
My favorite app that shows loads of potential is Jott. It’s like a personal secretary who makes your to do list for you. It has a handy voice recorder. While the voice-to-text transcriptions aren’t instantaneous (the audio files are transcribed out in the Cloud and sent back to you). What’s impressive is that some minor inaccuracies get corrected on their own in subsequent (Jott) sessions. For example, I recorded, “Update Trevor’s website”. It was transcribed as, “Update Trevor website” (still pretty impressive). The next time I launched the app, it had been corrected! Best part is that IT’S FREE. I would be willing to pay for something like this, albeit with a bit more first-time accuracy. Interestingly, the one dictation it got right on the first time was my most whimsical (and most supremely juvenile): “Get more chicks to suck my c&#k”. Very impressive.
Among my other favs, in no particular order:
Pandora – Though understandably a battery hog (like other iPhone internet radio apps), this allows you to listen to your own Pandora stations on the go.
eBay – Keep track of your auctions on the go. Shop victoriously from the road!
BoxOffice – (Legible) Fandango in the plam of your hand.
Midomi – A great music recognition tool. Though it needs some work, it recognized my rendition of the famous “La la la la la” segment of Minnie Ripperton’s one hit wonder. (No, I can’t hit the Mariah Carey-esque high note.)
PhoneSaber – A mini light saber app with changeable color beams and original sound effects. A great party gag with another Jedi wannabe. (Careful devs, LucasFilm may be looking for you…)
Comic Touch – Plasq’s great comic book emulator ported for the iPhone. It even allows you to make complete pages from multiple photos. Impressively, it does have a tiny arsenal of photo filters. All it needs is more effects to make it look more “comic-like” like the original version of this app and this is a surefire winner.
PayPal – Send/receive money on the go without exposing your credit card info.
Checkout – A barcode “scanner” (you have to type the numbers in) that finds ratings/info on the product. It helped me make a decision on a Bluetooth headset at Fry’s yesterday.
Urbanspoon – Very cool slot machine that makes restaurant suggestions based on your location, ethnic preferences, and cost!