I'll cut to the chase. My birthday is coming up on July 5th and my girlfriend wants to buy me an iPhone (like I need more time being connected to the web). Anyways, I don't know a ton about the iPhone or the must-have apps that I need to buy. This is where I'm relying on your experience with the iPhone and its apps to tell me what I should or should not get.
So....which apps should I get? Which should I avoid? Have any tips or iPhone "secrets" for me? Please let me know!
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Are you going to get the new iPhone 3GS? I’d recommend that, because it is much more faster than the old one…
hmm the first thing you should get is a jailbreak! gives you a lot of futures an apps that apple do not want and a lot more costumization like bootlogo, skins etc.
i olny have an ipod touch 2g but i love is with my mootools bootlogo and background! :O
http://bit.ly/mooboot
sry for double post cant edit :(
Hi David,
I think the decision will come down to two things: How much will you use the entertainment features on the phone (you need more space), and how much you’ll need the newer 3GS (with a few nice features).
If you can get by with no background apps and no copy & paste, and would use the phone simply for smart phone-typical stuff, the 3G is best.
I wouldn’t get the newer one, myself. Simply because I can’t see spending the extra money to have features that I really don’t need.
PS and don’t jailbreak if you don’t have to. It slows the phone down and the add-ons aren’t as cohesive.
m2c. :)
Why not get an Android phone?
I have had an iPhone since the 3G version came out and still love the thing. The App Store has loads of handy work tools, the Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Analytics Apps are a quick way to keep on top of things.
hmm the 3gs is a “upgrade” for the 3g or? but apple announced a new Iphone what i know iphon 3g not the actual the “real” 3g(generation)
The secret to iPhone longevity: “Don’t get it wet.”
Do you have a media center hooked to your TV? Get Air Mouse.
Like listening to tunes in your car? Get Pandora Radio.
Bank with Chase? Get the chase app to check your balance/find an ATM (saved me in NYC)
Your usual “social” apps are there: Brightkite, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter (several, I haven’t “found one to rule them all”)
What movie is playing nearby? Flixster.
I should google that. Google App.
I need a flashlight. Pulsar.
What did that Korean guy say? Translator app.
What do I want to eat? Urbanspoon.
Does amazon have this? Amazon app.
Is it cheaper somewhere else? SnapTell.
Where’s my package? FedEx app.
What’s that song? Shazam.
I’m really a nerd. Lightsaber app.
I need to create an SSH tunnel, edit a file quick on the fly. TouchTerm Pro.
I want to take a better pic. NightCamera.
I think two or three of those apps cost money.
Don’t know about the 3gs, other than it’s supposed to be faster and do video (which you can do with a jailbroken phone)
iPhone is a great phone. I have never had one myself (only iTouch), but alot of my friends have one – and they love it.
But what I hate about the iPhone, is that the camera has no flash. And if you really get a good shot of something and you want to send it to somebody, you cant. Theres no MMS function, you need to send it through mail. Might be a little issue, but yeah.
@brianzet mms comes with the new iphone os 3.0 and about 100 new functions too!
I really recommend:
iStatMenu – unsure whether this is the exact name, but it’s made by Bjango. You can use it to ping, performa a traceroute, check your Mac’s stats (if you have their widget installed) and free up memory on the iPhone.
RemoteTap – VNC client. This is seriously brilliant, and excellent value for money.
AirMouse – as recommended by keif.
Tweetie – Twitter client.
Google Earth.
Edge – one of my favourite iPhones games.
Runkeeper! We want to see your runs on Twitter.
Oh if you don’t want it, you can give it to me :P I have a use for it..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Oh, and where’s that IE6 bar thing :P You said you’ll do it last weekend :(
one must have app is [iBeer][1] ;)
[1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3MfQIswl3k IBeer
@alelo – ah okay, didnt knew that.. cool..
You’re running WordPress for this blog right? Well, there’s an IPhone WordPress app, it uses XML-RPC
Congrats on your iphone btw, I’m thinking of getting one of those 3Gs too. Currently have a ipod touch 1st gen…
Can’t recommend any apps so far, but I can do recommend to you that you hold tight to a woman who buys you gadgets like that for your birthday!
Congrats.
— Rendez.
You need to get
Pandora or Last.FM for internet radio
Twitterific for Twitter
Skype for… Skype
Mobile Fotos is awesome for Flickr stuff
ScoreMobile is my fav. for sports stuff
PhoneFlix to manage NetFlix with your iPhone
Feel free to ping me if you have other questions.
Distant Shore – Collect random pen pals from around the world
F-My-Life – Laugh at others’ misfortune
geoDefense – Difficult game which could take quite a lot of play to conquer
Jaadu VNC – Probably the best VNC application (don’t know if you’d find this useful)
Movies – Showtimes, ticket prices, etc
Pandora Radio – Duh
Twitterrific – Free, actively developed, does almost everything Twitter related
Wikipanion – Dedicated Wikipedia app
1Password – If you don’t use 1P for Mac, nevermind
Things – If you don’t use Things for Mac, nevermind
Must-Have Apps:
FlightControl (best game on the market)
Shazam (find song with microphone)
Twitterific
ESPN’s ScoreCenter
NetNewsWire (best feed reader)
WildWest (pinball)
AroundMe (find banks, bars, etc.)
DirecTV (schedule your DVR)
I have a jailbroken iPhone 3G. Here are some reasons why I jailbroke my iPhone:
1) Tethering with my laptop – PDAnet uses my mobile phone data plan as the gateway for my laptop accessing the internet…great for road trips.
2) Background Apps – By default on the iPhone 3G, you cannot run to apps simultaneously. Backgrounder allows you to run multiple app at the same time. For example, I like to run last.fm while surfing the internet.
3) Customization of UI – I use an app called Winterboard customize the look of my ui. I actually have mine set up so that it looks exactly like Leopard.
4) Video – There are several apps for a jailbroken iPhone 3G that allow you to record video (Cycorder and VideoRecorder)
5) Live Streaming Video from your iPhone – There is an app called Qik that lets you stream live from your cell phone to the internet. Its free and pretty slick.
6) MMS – You can actually send MMS via SwirlyMMS on an iPhone 3G. I don’t have this, but I am considering it.
++++++++
Unfortunately, there are some downsides. I am probably going to have to reformat my phone to factory settings to upgrade to the new firmware that is coming out next week. Plus, with the new firmware, it will take a while for someone to figure how to jailbreak the new firmware.
The new iPhone has all of these built in, so in my eyes your looking at this:
First, do you need these features…if no, then get the iPhone 3G.
If you do want these features would you rather have to spent a couple of hours jailbreaking your iPhone, risking messing it up, and then have apps that are not well supported and use hacks? If so, get the 3G. If not, pay the extra $100 and get the 3GS…not to mention the 3GS is faster.
Also, some of the jailbroken apps mentioned above cost anyways. So it probably best just to get the new version.
That’s just my two cents.
If you don’t have your heart completely set on the iPhone you might want to check out the new Palm Pre. If just for fact that application development for it is done w/ HTML5+CSS+Javascript (their SDK is based off of prototype). Plus having used it for a couple of days now its tough going back to the iPhone’s non-multitasking interface.
It’s been asked before. Why not android?
I always have found that whenever you can use the landscape keyboard, DO IT. Will save you so much time in typing. The WordPress app is very helpful for managing your blog too!
Most of these are paid apps but worth the money (imo)
AirSharing – Move files on and off your phone using WiFi (and Web DAV)
FTPOnTheGo – FTP Client. Allows you to upload, download and edit the content of files. Very handy for web developers
Palettes – Allows you to store colour palettes in you phone for design projects. I use this more than I thought I would
WebTools – A few handy domain tools (whois, ping and domain availability)
Analytics – Google Analytics on your iPhone. Very handy.
WWW? – Check the status of all your websites at once to ensure they are online
iBlogger – Great if you use Expression Engine (sort of)
iStat – If you’re on a Mac this will give you an overview of it’s system resources on your phone. RAM usage, CPU, etc.
I also agree with the previous mentions of Skype, 1Password, Things, Remote, Shazam and Facebook
Finally, if you do decide to jailbreak your phone, Cyncorder (video recording) and xGPS (A GPS App) are also worth a look.
I love Kindle for the iphone/ipod touch. Yelp is also a great way to find restaurants while on the go. Evernote is a great way to organize everything from screenshots to websites. For entertainment – definitely get WordFu. It’s addictive.
And it can’t hurt to load my band Hydrovibe’s music into your iphone too! Our new album will be coming out in about 3 months…
Store.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=211041309&s=143441
Check out: http://ask.metafilter.com/124276/Neat-Iphone-Apps – just posted today.
Thank you for the tips everyone! I’m super amped to get one…and start dev’ing for it right away! :)
Hello David.
I’m a developer from barcelona so sorry for my english. I think that you can consider another movil-phones that Iphone from apple. For example the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Its a great phone that from my point of view is better than iphone.
check it. http://www.nokiausa.com/find-products/phones/nokia-5800-xpressmusic?lid=feature_5800&lpos=3_image
Thanks for your blog!
If you finalley get a iphone peharps you are interested in one of this frameworks:
– http://www.appcelerator.com/2009/06/titanium-beta/
– http://www.nimblekit.com/
– http://phonegap.com/
iPhone will only make you get a MacBook Pro too :)
why nit? mac book pro > all! :O want to buy me 1 next time 2 :D
Flight Control!
Only one buck and it’s highly addictive. Plus it’s got really nice visual design.
Someone like you (who is into web dev) should definitely consider getting the Palm Pre instead because all deving for this is done in HTML/Javascript/CSS.