iPhone Apps
A few months ago the iPhone got a whole lot more desirable. Whether you have the iPhone 3G or the lovingly renamed iPhone “Classic” or even the iPod touch there’s now an ever increasing number of applications you can purchase or download for free.
Inevitably there’s a massive amount of utterly pointless or rather tacky applications that serve no real use other than their own novelty but there are some real gems that make your iphone so powerful. So here’s my recommendations with links to the apps on the iTunes App store
Air Mouse
If you use a computer at home for any kind of media entertainment system then this is a must. Instead of using a wireless mouse that you’d have to keep stocked up with batteries and make sure it’s close by, all you need now is your trusty iPhone. Install the tiny server software for Mac or PC and you’ve got yourself the choice of either a trackpad (like the mouse pad on a laptop) or an impressive motion sensitive mouse by waving your iphone in the direction you want the mouse to go. Not bad for a couple of pounds! 
VNC
Remote desktop connection is a very handy feature of any computer. The ability to connect and view the desktop of a machine and control it’s mouse and keyboard remotely is a very powerful tool not only for tech support or server maintenance but for simply getting your home computer to do something while you’re away. Well now you can do it from your iPhone too! There’s a free version and a fully featured version. I use the free version and it’s brilliantly simple to use. The ability to control my home computer from anywhere in the world with just a phone is amazingly powerful. Definitely worth checking out.
Poptiq
Millions apon millions of YouTube videos can be accessed by the iphone but you need to be connected to either wifi or a 3G to watch the movies. You cant save them for later viewing either. Poptiq is a great service that will download videos based on your preferences for things like news, music, popular culture, science, etc and will download more while you watch others. It means you always have a selection of interesting video content to watch even when there’s no data connection. It’s a very impressive app worth checking out.
TV Plus
If you’ve got Sky+ this is a must. This simple app allows you to view TV channel programme listings and set programmes to record on your Sky+ box with just a couple of taps! All you need to do is set up your sky account at www.sky.com and put your login details into the iphone app. Amazing! Perfect for getting your box to record a show a friend has just recommended.
Remote
Control your iTunes computer application from your iphone just like an iPod. We use iTunes on our media computer at home, plugged into our hifi and TV. We can now use our iphones to control it. Browse through all the thousands of songs, control the volume, skip tracks and even view album covers. All for free. It’s a fantastic app we’ve used loads and stops us having to turn the TV on just to find the music we want to listen to.
If you’re on facebook and you have an iPhone you’d be mad not to have this free application. You can update your status, view other people’s status and profiles. view photos and see who’s been tagged in them. A very impressive app that makes keeping up to date on your social networking a doddle!
WordPress
This website runs on the WordPress blog system and they’ve very generously created a free iPhone app for writing and updating blogs on the go! You can write blogs on your phone even when you don’t have a data connection and then publish the blog when you do. it can also post images from photo collection on your phone.
NetNewsWire
A bit fiddly to set up but still the best RSS news feed reader for the iPhone. It Syncronises with your net newswire account allowing you to view your feeds on the web or on your iphone from one account.
Google Earth
If you’ve ever used the computer application Google Earth you’ll know how powerful it is for viewing anywhere in the world from a simple search. Well now you can on the iPhone too. You can even tilt your phone to make it show the contours of the earth. Great fun!
Fring
Skype for your iPhone basically. It can handle VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) for a range of services like Skype and MSN. This means free phone calls to other Skype or MSN users as long as it’s over a wifi connection. There’s a fair bit of lag on the audio but for the most part it’s great app with lots of potential for heavy Skype users.
Moonlight Mahjongg
Without doubt this is Debs’ favourite game for the iPhone. A fantastic looking 3D game of Mahjongg where you can zoom and rotate your view of the tiles to make picking them easier. The free version features a handful of different layouts along with the classic layout. The full version gives you many handfuls.
Midomi
Heard a song on the radio but don’t know who it is? Hold your phone up to the speaker for a few seconds and this app will tell you! With links to the iTunes store so you can purchase instantly. I find this app works better than Shazam which is another song recognising app for the iPhone. You can also hum the song and it’ll give you suggestions as well as the ability to search by keywords even if you spell them wrong.
Jude said,
23 November, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Matt,
I saw you wrote “I find this app works better than Shazam which is another song recognising app for the iPhone.”
I am surprised. Everything else I read on the web (including iTunes reviews) says that Shazam is much more accurate in music identification. Have you tried comparing them in extensive tests?
It seems Apple chose to advertise Shazam on TV. You would think they would do some serious testing on which is more accurate before such a big decision.
Would love to hear your thoughts…
Jude
mattanddebz said,
23 November, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Hi Jude,
I tried both Shazam and Midomi when they were both released on the app store. Personally I found that Midomi’s range of features, it’s ability to offer a list of suggested matches and it’s ability to search user submitted audio entries, made it a more enjoyable and useful app for the iPhone.
I have not done extensive tests as my comment was merely personal experience.
I am of the opinion that Apple used Shazam in the recent advert because of a business deal with Shazam rather than any extensive tests on their part.
It’s been a while since I’d used the Shazam app. Maybe they have updated it since I removed it from my iPhone.
Zharko said,
15 January, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I love the Google Earth app. very usefull!
I also recomend that you try the Storyz app. It’s free and it’s quite fun as well